X Ambassadors

X Ambassadors emerged from New York with a sound rooted in fervent, synth-infused pop propelled by the rich, expressive voice of frontman Sam Harris. Early notice arrived via the 2013 EP Love Songs Drug Songs and its single “Unconsolable,” yet broader recognition followed when their first album under the current name, VHS, climbed to number seven on the Billboard 200 in 2015. That success opened the door for the 2019 release Orion. In 2021 the band launched the multipart endeavor (Eg), enlisting Jensen McRae, Terrell Hines and additional guests on individual tracks, before unveiling the ambitious concept album The Beautiful Liar. A further joint effort, “Back to You” with Lost Frequencies and Elley Duhé, surfaced in 2022, while 2024 brought Townie, an affectionate nod to their origins in Ithaca, New York.

The group first assembled in Ithaca in 2009, then consisting of Harris, his keyboard-playing brother Casey Harris, lifelong friend and guitarist Noah Feldshuh, and drummer Adam Levin. Operating at first simply as Ambassadors, they issued a self-titled EP that year. Online interest in “Litost” unexpectedly secured airplay on Virginia’s 96X, prompting a limited 2012 full-length also titled Litost under the original moniker. Momentum from the follow-up track “Unconsolable” secured management and a record deal. Rebranded as X Ambassadors, the quartet delivered their second EP, Love Songs Drug Songs, through Interscope in 2013 and toured alongside Imagine Dragons and Jimmy Eat World. Wider visibility arrived in 2014 when the Jamie N Commons collaboration “The Jungle” appeared in a Beats by Dre advertisement, leading directly to the third EP The Reason.

VHS, produced in part by Alex da Kid, arrived in 2015 and yielded the charting singles “Renegades” and “Unsteady.” A 2016 expanded edition added five tracks, one featuring Tom Morello. That year also saw the band appear on the Knocks’ “Comfortable” and the double-platinum Suicide Squad soundtrack cut “Sucker for Pain,” which united them with Lil Wayne, Wiz Khalifa, Imagine Dragons, Logic and Ty Dolla $ign. Later in 2016 Feldshuh stepped away for what the members termed an indefinite hiatus to address personal matters.

Returning to Ithaca in fall 2017, X Ambassadors co-headlined the debut Cayuga Sound Festival with the Roots and issued singles such as “The Devil You Know,” “Torches” and the ACLU-benefit track “Hoping.” In March they joined fellow artists at Los Angeles’ Roxy Theatre for a Planned Parenthood benefit tied to the International Women’s Day March. The year closed with the Machine Gun Kelly and Bebe Rexha collaboration “Home,” featured on the Netflix film Bright soundtrack. A standalone single, “Joyful,” previewed a planned sophomore album in 2018, yet those plans shifted; Orion emerged in 2019, co-produced by Ricky Reed, Earwulf and others, and spotlighted “Boom,” “Hey Child,” “Hold You Down” and the K. Flay-assisted “Confidence.”

January 2021 brought the Terrell Hines collaboration “ultraviolet.tragedies,” followed in February by “skip.that.party” featuring Jensen McRae; both cuts formed part of the (Eg) series designed to showcase other performers. September of that year saw the release of the radio-drama concept album The Beautiful Liar, framed by narration from a fictional book of the same name and exploring political, social and economic fearmongering through an eclectic mix of 1930s Broadway styles, hardcore punk, gothy R&B, electronica and trap. The standalone “Back to You” with Lost Frequencies and Elley Duhé arrived in 2022, succeeded by “Happy People” and “Friends for Life” in 2023.

For their fourth album the band again drew inspiration from Ithaca, channeling personal history into Townie, issued in April 2024. Among its tracks is “Follow the Sound of My Voice,” which Harris wrote for his brother Casey, who was born blind from a genetic condition; further highlights include “Your Town,” “No Strings” and “Half-Life.”