* En anglais uniquement
New Zealand native
Tamaryn taps into the lush sonics and transporting vocals that made dream pop so compelling during its original heyday in the '80s and '90s and reinvents them for the 21st century. On early albums such as 2010's
The Waves, the way
Tamaryn re-created the heavy, hypnotic churn of shoegaze was almost uncanny, but as time went on, her approach became more innovative. She added elements of synth pop and Top 40 to surprising and bewitching effect on 2015's
Cranekiss, then borrowed from industrial and darkwave to heighten the raw emotions of 2019's
Dreaming the Dark. As radically as her music has changed,
Tamaryn remains true to dream pop's ability to capture moods in impressionistic but unmistakable ways.
Tamaryn was born in New Zealand and moved to the U.S. when she was seven. In the early 2000s, she connected with guitarist/producer
Rex John Shelverton (whose other projects include Portraits of Past,
the Audience, and
Vue). Basing themselves out of San Francisco, the pair began making music together in 2004 and self-released
Tamaryn's debut EP, Led Astray, Washed Ashore, in 2008, which introduced the duo's massive guitars and cooing vocals. A pair of singles -- "Weather War" and "Mild Confusion/Light Shadows" -- appeared in 2009 before the release of
Tamaryn's first full-length,
The Waves, on Mexican Summer/Kemado Records in September 2010. The following year, she worked with
Dum Dum Girls' Dee Dee Penny as
Les Demoniaques, who issued a cover of
the Jesus and Mary Chain's "Teenage Lust" on True Panther Sounds. Also in 2011, she appeared on a
Ford & Lopatin 12" that was Mexican Summer's 100th release. She and
Shelverton brought more structure and songcraft to
Tamaryn's second album,
Tender New Signs, which appeared in October 2012.
Following
Tender New Signs' release,
Tamaryn and
Shelverton parted ways.
Tamaryn then spent some time collaborating with others, including
Jorge Elbrecht (also of
Lansing-Dreiden and
Violens), with whom she covered
Turning Shrines' "¼ Circle Black" as a single for 2013's Record Store Day. She also contributed to
Dum Dum Girls' 2014 album
Too True and worked with electronic musician
Drew McDowall (formerly of
Coil and
Psychic TV) on the score to Are You Okay, a short film written by Bret Easton Ellis.
Tamaryn also reconnected with her old friend
Shaun Durkan from the San Francisco band
Weekend, and the side project they planned to work on together became the basis of
Tamaryn's third album. Featuring production by
Elbrecht, 2015's
Cranekiss added synth pop and Top 40-worthy hooks to the dream pop foundations of her music.
Tamaryn joined
Lush on the 2016 North American dates of the veteran shoegaze act's reunion tour. In March 2019,
Tamaryn returned with
Dreaming the Dark, a harder-hitting, emotionally raw set of songs that once again featured production by
Elbrecht. ~ Heather Phares