Arc Iris is a Los Angeles based American

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

band originally from

Providence, Rhode Island Providence () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Rhode Island, most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. The county seat of Providence County, Rhode Island, Providence County, it is o ...

, United States, that began in 2012 as a solo project of Jocie Adams, formerly a member of The Low Anthem. Arc Iris has had several lineup changes since their inception and have since settled on a trio that is the nucleus of Jocie Adams (lead vocals, guitar), Zach Tenorio Miller (keyboards), Ray Belli (drums). They have released five albums and toured internationally.

Career

Adams developed an interest in music at an early age and became proficient in the clarinet. She studied composition at

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

where she graduated in 2008. While performing with the Low Anthem, Adams released a solo album ''Bed of Notions'' in 2011. Adams met Miller in 2012 and began collaborating, inviting Belli to join later that year. In 2013, it was announced that Adams had left the Low Anthem to pursue her new project, noting that she wanted "to have more creative freedom". In between, Adams briefly worked as a NASA technician. Arc Iris's first, self-titled album was released on April 1, 2014 through the Los Angeles-based record label

ANTI- Anti- is an American record label founded in 1999 as a sister label to Epitaph Records. Founded by Andy Kaulkin, Anti- first gained attention by releasing Tom Waits's Grammy Award–winning '' Mule Variations'' in 1999. Other veteran recordin ...

Records. Co-produced by Dan Cardinal, it was recorded in Boston while the artwork was created by Kacie Smith. It was described as 'traditional music thrillingly positioned at the nexus of the old and new'. The band toured as support to Nicole Atkins, St. Vincent and Tweedy and filmed a video for the song "Whiskey Man" directed by Matt Wignall. On June 2, 2016,

Bella Union Bella Union is a British independent record label founded in 1997 by Simon Raymonde and Robin Guthrie of Cocteau Twins. It is now run solely by Raymonde. History After releasing records with 4AD for a large part of their career, Cocteau Twin ...

announced the release of Arc Iris's second record, ''Moon Saloon''. The album's first single, "Kaleidoscope" premiered on

Stereogum ''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine. ''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several awar ...

. The band recorded the album over a five day period as they had been invited to perform as support to St Vincent on her UK tour. On August 5, 2016,

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

's All Songs Considered debuted the video for 'Moon Saloon' which was shot entirely on a 360 degree camera. In 2017, Arc Iris toured a complete reimagination of

Joni Mitchell Roberta Joan Mitchell (née Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and painter. As one of the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitch ...

's ''

Blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB color model, RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB color model, RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between Violet (color), violet and cyan on the optical spe ...

''. On August 7, 2017, Arc Iris announced the formation of an offshoot band called Bwahaha that featured Ryan Miller of

Guster Guster is an American alternative rock band formed in Somerville, Massachusetts. Founding members Adam Gardner, Ryan Miller, and Brian Rosenworcel began practice sessions while attending Tufts University and formed the band in 1991. The mem ...

. In early 2018, the band toured alongside

Kimbra Kimbra Lee Johnson (born 27 March 1990), known Mononymous person, mononymously as Kimbra, is a New Zealand singer and songwriter. Known for mixing pop with R&B, jazz and rock musical elements, her accolades include four ARIA Music Awards, two 2 ...

. On July 27, 2018, Arc Iris released their third album, ''Foggy Lullaby'', a complete re-imagination of Joni Mitchell's ''Blue''. Shortly after releasing ''Foggy Lullaby'', the band announced the release of ''Icon of Ego'' on Ba Da Bing Records and premiered "$GNMS" a reworking of "Money Gnomes" off their debut album. In January 2020, the band premiered their performance art piece, iTMRW: Sci-Fi Ballet which featured six dancers of the HDC Dance Ensemble. In mid 2020, the band relocated to Los Angeles and currently host a monthly concert series called 'Live at Glass Hill'. April 2023 saw the release of the band's fifth full length, We Found Home, released on Press on Records.

Discography

Albums

* ''Arc Iris'' (2014,

North America,

Rest of World) * ''Moon Saloon'' (2016,

) * ''Foggy Lullaby'' (2018) * ''Icon of Ego'' (2018, Ba Da Bing Records) * ''We Found Home'' (2023, Press On Records)

Singles

* "Singing So Sweetly" (2014,

Records) * "Kaleidoscope" (2016,

Records) * "$GNMS" (2018, Ba Da Bing Records)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Arc Iris Alternative rock groups from Rhode Island Indie rock musical groups from Rhode Island American folk rock groups Bella Union artists Anti- (record label) artists