Washed Out

Ernest Greene, a producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, launched the Washed Out project by merging dream pop’s stacked synths with its softly ringing guitars, bedroom electronica’s repetitive beats, and his own understated vocal style into tracks that feel as soothing as a favorite blanket. The 2009 EP Life of Leisure played a key role in shaping the chillwave sound, while the track “Feel It All Around” turned into an inescapable standard. Every release that followed, whether shaped by psychedelic pop on the 2013 album Paracosm, by hip-hop on the 2017 album Mister Mellow, or by modern pop on the 2020 album Purple Noon, extends the same foundational relaxed approach that reaches its clearest expression on the 2024 album Notes from a Quiet Life.

By the summer of 2009, when Greene began issuing material under the Washed Out name, he had already completed several other musical efforts. One was the guitar-driven and quicker bedroom project Lee Weather, which shared the computerized textures of his later work. Another involved dance recordings made with the Columbia, South Carolina band Bedroom. The earliest Washed Out pieces, hazy and warped dance-pop numbers that evoked Neon Indian and Memory Cassette, carried traces of both prior endeavors. Mexican Summer issued the debut EP Life of Leisure online in the middle of 2009 and on vinyl that October, while Mirror Universe put out the cassette-only High Times EP in a limited run the same September.

The year 2011 brought major developments. “Feel It All Around” was chosen as the theme for the Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein series Portlandia, and Washed Out joined the Sub Pop roster. Greene recorded his first full-length, Within and Without, in Atlanta alongside producer Ben Allen, previously associated with Animal Collective and Deerhunter; the album appeared in July. Following extensive touring, he left Atlanta for a quiet rural spot near Athens that allowed uninterrupted studio time. The resulting 2013 album Paracosm gained warmth and optimism from both the surroundings and an expanded collection of vintage synths.

Once Paracosm was out, Greene paused to reassess the project’s path. His return in 2017 came via the Stones Throw label and the visual album Mister Mellow, which reduced earlier ambitions in favor of a return to the initial chillwave mood, now delivered with confident production and pronounced hip-hop elements. Mixing engineer Cole M.G.N. assisted on the record, which required two years and arrived in June. Greene then stepped away from Washed Out to write and produce portions of Sudan Archives’ 2019 album Athena before returning to his home studio. The 2020 album Purple Noon avoids genre experiments and instead refines chillwave’s smooth textures with contemporary pop clarity. After its release, he settled once more in rural Georgia, this time in a converted horse barn whose setting informed the 2024 album Notes from a Quiet Life and its heightened sense of calm.