slenderbodies

For ten days, California duo slenderbodies, composed of Max Vehuni and Benji Cormack, relocated to an isolated cabin outside Mendocino, carrying their guitars into the woods each and every morning in search of fresh melodies and chord progressions that could capture the ephemeral beauty of the natural world around them. While this might sound like the backstory to some rustic indie folk record, the band’s spectacular 2019 album, komorebi, couldn’t be any further from it. Named for a Japanese term used to describe sunlight filtering through the trees, the record is slick and modern, with spacious alt-pop arrangements full of effervescent electric guitars and breathy falsetto vocals. Programmed beats and found-sound percussion underpin each track, blurring the lines between the organic and the digital at every step and hinting at the wide range of influences the duo draws on here, from hip-hop and R&B to electronic and dance music. The result is an intoxicating blend of textures and genres, one that’s fueled the band’s remarkable rise from a self-released bedroom project to a touring and streaming powerhouse

slenderbodies first emerged in 2016 with sotto voce, a mesmerizing, eight-track EP that took its name from an Italian phrase meaning to speak softly but with emphasis. Recorded remotely with guitarist Benji Cormack living in Santa Cruz and singer/guitarist Max Vehuni residing in Los Angeles (the two had met at college a few years earlier), the collection quickly caught fire on Spotify, where it racked up millions of streams without any label or radio support. The next year, the pair returned with a second EP, fabulist, which launched their following into the stratosphere as lead single “anemone” garnered more than 30 million plays across platforms. Though the duo had never planned on performing live, they soon found themselves on stage in front of massive crowds around the world, sharing bills with the likes of Mura Masa, Passion Pit, PVRIS, and Milky Chance. In 2018 and 2019, Vehuni and Cormack released two more EPs (fabulist: extended and soraya, respectively) earning ecstatic reviews on both sides of the pond and landing coveted spots at Austin City Limits and Lollapalooza. The Line Of Best Fit proclaimed that slenderbodies “conjure an immersive world” with their “genre-blurring” music, while Complex described their songs as “subtle but infectious,” and Billboard praised their “intimacy” and “daring.”

Past Shows


Jun
27
th
2022
Fine Line
Jun
27
th
2022
Fine Line

slenderbodies

Plastic Parts Tour
with Mokita
Oct
5
th
2019
7th St Entry
Oct
5
th
2019
7th St Entry

slenderbodies

with Hazey Eyes
Jan
18
th
2018
Mainroom
Jan
18
th
2018
Mainroom

Passion Pit

with slenderbodies

More Shows

May
24
th
First Avenue

Area 51 Rave

Nov
30
th
The Fitzgerald Theater

Josh Blue

Jul
5
th
Turf Club

Gotham ⏤ A Night of Misfits

with DJ Q, PRSPHNE and DAZZLE
Jun
3
rd
7th St Entry

The Burkharts