Biography
A fixture in Chicago's independent scene, Tim Kinsella has assembled an expansive body of work through ventures that range from Joan of Arc's experimental blend of emo and post-rock and the folk-punk of Friend/Enemy to the unpredictable art-pop he crafts with spouse Jenny Pulse. He established the influential early-'90s emo outfit Cap'n Jazz while still a teenager in 1989 alongside his brother Mike Kinsella; over the following twenty years he guided or participated in additional outfits including Owls, Make Believe, and the 2004 indie supergroup Everyoned. Solo releases have appeared under deliberately varied bylines such as T. Kinsella, TK, Tim Kinsellas, and Timothy J. Kinsella, encompassing the 2007 acoustic field-recording set Field Recordings of Dreams, the cabaret-style interpretations collected on Sings the Songs of Marvin Tate by LeRoy Bach featuring Angel Olsen, and a 2016 album constructed solely from samples drawn from David Bowie's Hunky Dory. In the early 2020s he launched a duo partnership with vocalist and electronic producer Jenny Pulse, known for the project Spa Moans. Kinsella also works as a visual artist, filmmaker, and writer.
Cap'n Jazz issued several singles before delivering its exhaustively titled 1995 album Burritos, Inspiration Point, Fork Balloon Sports, Cards in the Spokes, Automatic Biographies, Kites, Kung Fu, Trophies, Banana Peels We've Slipped On and Egg Shells We've Tippy Toed Over (aka Shmap'n Shmazz) and disbanded the same year. Joan of Arc, formed soon afterward, proved more enduring and prolific; the group gradually abandoned its emo origins for a more expansive approach, shaping albums such as the 1997 release How Memory Works and 2000's The Gap from synthetic samples, pastiche, and kinetic post-rock. Kinsella remained its sole constant member until the project's conclusion in 2020. Lineups from both Cap'n Jazz and Joan of Arc later supplied personnel for related groups including Owls and Make Believe.
His first solo outing arrived in 2001 with the EP He Sang His Didn't He Danced His Did, issued on Troubleman Records under the name Tim Kinsellas—an early instance of the misdirection and playful naming conventions that recur throughout his catalog, exemplified by Joan of Arc's 1999 album Live in Chicago, 1999, a studio recording whose title merely notes the members' residence that year. Also in 2007 he made his directorial debut with the feature Orchard Vale, and a few years afterward he issued his debut novel, The Karaoke Singer's Guide to Self-Defense.
While continuing to record under the Joan of Arc name, he pursued further collaborations, among them the 2013 settings of Chicago poet Marvin Tate's work realized with Angel Olsen and LeRoy Bach. A second novel, Let Go and Go On and On, appeared in 2014, followed in 2015 by a year-long artist-in-residence engagement with the Joyful Noise label whose results were later compiled in a box set. Additional limited EPs and singles continued to surface until he retired Joan of Arc in 2020.
His subsequent activity centered on the duo with musician and artist Jenny Pulse, yielding experimental art-pop albums including Gimme Altamont and 2023's Giddy Skelter.
Cap'n Jazz issued several singles before delivering its exhaustively titled 1995 album Burritos, Inspiration Point, Fork Balloon Sports, Cards in the Spokes, Automatic Biographies, Kites, Kung Fu, Trophies, Banana Peels We've Slipped On and Egg Shells We've Tippy Toed Over (aka Shmap'n Shmazz) and disbanded the same year. Joan of Arc, formed soon afterward, proved more enduring and prolific; the group gradually abandoned its emo origins for a more expansive approach, shaping albums such as the 1997 release How Memory Works and 2000's The Gap from synthetic samples, pastiche, and kinetic post-rock. Kinsella remained its sole constant member until the project's conclusion in 2020. Lineups from both Cap'n Jazz and Joan of Arc later supplied personnel for related groups including Owls and Make Believe.
His first solo outing arrived in 2001 with the EP He Sang His Didn't He Danced His Did, issued on Troubleman Records under the name Tim Kinsellas—an early instance of the misdirection and playful naming conventions that recur throughout his catalog, exemplified by Joan of Arc's 1999 album Live in Chicago, 1999, a studio recording whose title merely notes the members' residence that year. Also in 2007 he made his directorial debut with the feature Orchard Vale, and a few years afterward he issued his debut novel, The Karaoke Singer's Guide to Self-Defense.
While continuing to record under the Joan of Arc name, he pursued further collaborations, among them the 2013 settings of Chicago poet Marvin Tate's work realized with Angel Olsen and LeRoy Bach. A second novel, Let Go and Go On and On, appeared in 2014, followed in 2015 by a year-long artist-in-residence engagement with the Joyful Noise label whose results were later compiled in a box set. Additional limited EPs and singles continued to surface until he retired Joan of Arc in 2020.
His subsequent activity centered on the duo with musician and artist Jenny Pulse, yielding experimental art-pop albums including Gimme Altamont and 2023's Giddy Skelter.
Albums
Firecracker in a Box of Mirrors
2016
Issues EP
2015
Tim Kinsella Sings The Songs of Marvin Tate By Leroy Bach Featuring Angel Olsen
2013
Field Recordings of Dreams
2007
Singles
