Idiot Glee

Lexington, Kentucky indie pop crooner James Friley launched his echo-laden, keyboard-driven project Idiot Glee in 2008, blending space rock, Arthur Russell, chillwave, and the Beach Boys' Smile sessions after the classically trained pianist abandoned his lo-fi punk band in favor of loops and samples. Friley situated the project within the same rainy porch atmosphere inhabited by Twin Shadow, Summer Camp, and Perfume Genius, issuing the debut single "All Packed Up" in 2010. Moody and atmospheric, with hymnal overtones drawn from a strict Mormon upbringing, Idiot Glee's first full-length studio album, Paddywhacking, appeared on Moshi Moshi Records in March 2011. Building on the reception for that record, Friley issued the Life Without Jazz EP and the all-instrumental, classically-minded The Prairie in 2013. Working across several imprints, among them his own Hop Hop Records, he sustained the output with the more pop-centric Four in 2014, followed by a series of early-2016 singles that led to his next self-titled album in late January.