Indian Summer

Though active for a very short window in the early '90s, Indian Summer were one of the more exciting and influential bands in a crop of underground acts that defined an obscure but inspired era of American emo. Building tension and intensity with controlled dynamics and recording atmospheres, the band released a handful of 7" singles during their brief lifespan, but their entire ten-song discography was collected for the 2019 Numero Group release Giving Birth to Thunder. Indian Summer formed in Oakland, California, in 1993. Begun by friends Dan Bradley, Eyad Kaileh, Marc Bianchi, and brothers Adam and Seth Nanaa, the band dialed into an aesthetic and sound shared by several bands in their early D.I.Y. scene. This included minimal record art silkscreened by hand onto brown paper bag packaging, untitled songs, and fiercely emotive lyrical themes that exploded from spoken whispers to screaming outbursts. Though they were only active for a single year, the band toured constantly and released music primarily in the form of 7" singles. Those released between 1993 and 1995 included a split single with Michigan emo band Current, a split with California peers Embassy, a self-titled four-song 7", and songs on various compilations. The band officially broke up in 1994, but their legacy as one of the most influential and moving emo bands of their time lived on. Following the band's breakup, Bianchi began a lengthy run performing solo electronic material as Her Space Holiday. In 1999, the live recording Live - Blue Universe was released. Though all of the band's songs were technically untitled, fans devised working titles to identify the tracks. These were used for the 2002 release Science 1994, which compiled most of Indian Summer's scant recorded output. Live - Blue Universe was repackaged as Hidden Arithmetic in 2006 with more complete technical information. Likewise, the band's discography was given deluxe treatment by Numero Group on 2019's Giving Birth to Thunder. This archival release gathered together the band's full studio output and augmented the music with detailed liner notes and a book that collected rare photos, flyers, and ephemera from their year-long existence. ~ Fred Thomas