A R I Z O N A

Despite their name, the trio that comprises A R I Z O N A doesn’t hail from the American southwest. Guitarist Nathan Esquite, vocalist Zachary Charles, and keyboardist David Labuguen are based in New Jersey but met in Boston, where the three musicians all spent time at Berklee College of Music and Emerson College. After moving back to their home state, they began jamming and developed an icy, stylish electro-pop. A R I Z O N A signed with Atlantic at the end of 2015, and as they worked on recording their first album in 2016, they released a series of singles including “Let Me Touch Your Fire,” “I Was Wrong,” and “Oceans Away.” Their debut, GALLERY, arrived in the spring of 2017. The following year saw the release of the group’s sophomore effort, No One Saw the Hot Air Balloon Show. Also in 2018, they issued the standalone single “What She Wants.” More singles arrived in 2019, including a guest feature on Avicii’s “Hold the Line” and the group’s own “Nostalgic.” Their second album ASYLUM arrived that October. A R I Z O N A spent the first years of the 2020s quietly — they appeared on “So What,” a 2021 single by Louis the Child, as well as collaborating with Matoma in his 2022 track “Heart So Big”– finally reemerging in 2023 with an eponymous album preceded by the singles “Moving On,” “Dark Skies,” and “Die for a Night.“~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine