Pollens is an American

indie rock Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produc ...

band originally from

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region ...

, United States, and now based in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. Their sound has been described as a blend of trance, African rhythms, choral composition, and American Indie Rock. Pollens began in late 2008 as the composition project of Jeff Aaron Bryant and Hanna Benn, students at

Cornish College of the Arts Cornish College of the Arts (CCA) is a private art college in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1914. History Cornish College of the Arts was founded in 1914 as the Cornish School of Music, by Nellie Cornish (1876–1956), a teacher of ...

in Seattle. As Bryant and Benn developed their sound in 2008 and 2009, live shows included drum machines and a rotating cast of vocalists, auxiliary instrumentalists and percussionists. Pollens' sound has often been compared to acclaimed Brooklyn band

Dirty Projectors Dirty Projectors is an American indie rock band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2002. The band is the project of singer-songwriter David Longstreth, who has served as the band's sole constant member throughout numerous line-up changes. The ...

. By early 2010 Pollens had expanded to become a six piece band. Other members include Adam Kozie, Kelly Wyse, Whitney Lyman, and Lena Simon. Reviewing a February, 2012 concert on Capitol Hill in Seattle, Andrew Matson of ''

The Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is a daily newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded in 1891 and has been owned by the Blethen family since 1896. ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Washington ...

'' wrote that "Trance is Pollens' strong suit. The clean, unique sound of its drones intensified to climaxes that sometimes came too soon... The best parts were when three female voices wove a pattern with drums, guitar and up to three synthesizers, establishing a thick layer of throbbing sound for extended periods of time." The band became a seven piece with the addition of multi-instrumentalist Mike Sparks in 2013. In an interview with Joe Williams of the Seattle Weekly, Benn explains that the song ''Helping Hand'' was adapted from music for a piano quartet she had previously written. Pollens self-released an eponymous EP in 2010. Their album ''Brighten & Break'', produced by Charlie Smith of Throw Me the Statue, was released in 2012 on Tapete Records. Morgan Henderson of

Fleet Foxes Fleet Foxes is an American indie folk band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 2006. The band consists of Robin Pecknold (vocals, guitar), Skyler Skjelset (guitar, mandolin, backing vocals), Casey Wescott (keyboards, mandolin, backing vocals), ...

contributed instrumentally to both recordings. The group signed to German label Tapete Records in the Spring of 2012. In September 2013, they performed on the SoFar Sounds show in Seattle. In 2015, Hanna Benn left Pollens, seeking to focus on her solo work, while co-founder Jeff Bryant relocated to New York City. Soon after his move, Bryant recruited Elizabeth May for the current duo line-up of Pollens. They released a new EP titled 'Mister Manufacture' on October 27, 2017.

References

External links

Official website

YouTube Channel

Tapete Records band page
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029105509/http://www.tapeterecords.de/artists/pollens/ , date=2013-10-29 Indie pop groups from Washington (state) Tapete Records artists