slenderbodies

Indie electronic duo Slenderbodies fuse supple beats and dreamy guitar work with hushed R&B vocals that rarely dip below a falsetto range. The Los Angeles band quietly built up their fan base with a pair of D.I.Y. releases before signing with Avant Garden Records, which issued their 2019 breakout album, Komorebi. Over subsequent releases, Slenderbodies’ sound took on more texture and depth as they refined their songwriting on albums like 2022′s searching Simple Shapes and 2024′s nostalgic The Sugar Machine. Max Vehuni and Benji Cormack became friends while studying at the University of California and began writing songs together in the mid-2010s. Using the name Slenderbodies, they self-released their debut album, Sotto Voce, in 2016, introducing fans to their shimmering, low-key pop. A follow-up EP, Fabulist, arrived in 2017, along with a pair of singles, “Lucid” and “Amnesia.” After signing with the Island-distributed Avant Garden label, Slenderbodies issued a trio of singles, including the silky “King,” ahead of the release of the Soraya EP, which arrived in January 2019. The band’s sophomore full-length, Komorebi, appeared later that September and became something of a breakout for the pair, thanks in part to its sultry single “Belong.” Slenderbodies’ next outing was a long EP titled Are We?, which continued to explore humid textures and hushed but passionate vocals. After this, the duo began to play with their formula, adding more analog drums and live elements into their sound. This was apparent on their third album, 2022′s Simple Shapes, which was more introspective and anxious in tone than their earlier output. Vehuni and Cormack continued to evolve, creating a new group of songs that leaned into youthful nostalgia and wistfulness. The Sugar Machine, released in 2024, was a shimmering, hook-laden pop album with experimental textures and a more uptempo sound. ~ Timothy Monger