Health&Beauty

Experimental rock band Health&Beauty operates under the direction of Chicago guitarist and songwriter Brian J. Sulpizio, who has long served as a member of Ryley Walker’s group. The project’s songs blend pop structures with free-jazz excursions and meditative folk-rock textures. After issuing its first recording, It Was Almost Certainly a Small Child, in 2008, Sulpizio and a revolving cast of musicians kept producing unpredictable full-lengths at irregular intervals; one of these, the 2012 album No Lady, included keyboard contributions from Ben Boye, another Walker associate. The group’s sixth studio effort, No Scare, introduced the band to Wichita Recordings in 2016.

Born in Defiance, Ohio, Sulpizio moved to Chicago in 2000 and adopted the Health&Beauty moniker three years later. Although It Was Almost Certainly a Small Child had already appeared in 2008 as the project’s initial official release, further albums followed: The Retch, The Flow in 2011 and the concert document Live in Bloomington 5/28/2010 in early 2012. That September Perilous Records put out two studio sets, Wintermagic and Our Lady; the latter was issued under the joint names of Sulpizio and pianist Ben Boye, known for work with Bonnie “Prince” Billy and Angel Olsen. Early 2013 brought the six-song collection Guns. Soon afterward the lineup stabilized as a trio when drummer Frank Rosaly, previously active with Natural Information Society and Joan of Arc, joined on percussion. This configuration made its Wichita debut with No Scare in 2016, an album that also welcomed several guests, among them Ryley Walker on acoustic guitar.

In late 2017 the quartet of Sulpizio (vocals and guitar), Jake Acosta (guitar), Bill Satek (bass), and Seth Vanek (drums) toured and began laying down tracks destined for the band’s seventh album. Additional musicians added parts before the finished Shame Engine/Blood Pleasure appeared on Wichita in late 2019.