Varsity

Varsity crafts sweet-natured indie pop centered on everyday experiences, blending luminous guitar lines with wistful undertones in equal measure. Their self-titled debut album appeared in 2015. Retaining that bittersweet warmth while gaining sharper definition, the group delivered its third studio album, Fine Forever, in 2020.

Singer and keyboardist Stef Smith, guitarists Dylan Weschler and Patrick Stanton, and drummer Spencer Smith formed Varsity in Chicago during 2013. That August the quartet issued the two-track single “Turns Out”/“Downtown” through Jurassic Pop Records. Bassist Paul Stolz joined in time to cut the debut EP Thanks for Nothing, which surfaced the next year. Dave Vettraino (OK Go, Lala Lala) recorded, mixed, and produced the self-titled full-length at Public House Sound Recordings in Chicago; Jurassic Pop released it in March 2015.

Late in 2015 Jake Stolz took over on drums, after which the band moved to Babe City Records for its second album, Parallel Person, issued in April 2018. Later that year Run for Cover Records put out the 7-inch “The Dogs Only Listen to Him”/“UFO,” engineered and produced by Ben Lumsdaine (Amy O, Kevin Krauter) at Russian Recording in Bloomington, Indiana.

The group next assembled demos for The Basement Tapes (2015-2016), mixed once more by Vettraino and released by Run for Cover at the end of 2019. Lumsdaine returned to helm the third studio effort, Fine Forever, which Run for Cover issued in mid-2020.