Biography
Font is an Austin-based band comprised of Thom Waddill (guitar/synth/vocals), Jack Owens (drums), Anthony Laurence (guitar/synth/sampler), Logan Wagner (percussion/sampler), and Roman Parnell (bass/synth). They began performing regularly in early 2022.
The Austin Chronicle describes Font’s music as "relentless post-punk with New Wave keyboards and arty, personality-driven singing." Waddill’s lyrics are inspired by dreams, automatic writing, mythology, and childhood; he usually starts with rhythm, emotion, and sound rather than a specific subject. His creative process involves looping the music, recording, dancing, and singing nonsensical phrases until a vocal part sticks; he then quickly fills in the syllables with lines from nonsense poems, scribbled phrases, and spontaneous thoughts. For some songs, the lyrics serve primarily a sonic function.
During their first two years, Font officially released only one song, the razor-sharp “Sentence I.” Their second single, “It,” released in fall 2023, marked a shift from the guitars and shouting chants of the first single to heavy synths, dance beats, and samples. The relative mystery surrounding the band seemed to increase their allure. They built a reputation for their creativity and the force of their live performances, leading to shows across the U.S. and sharing stages with bar italia, Water From Your Eyes, Horsegirl, and CHAI, as well as a main stage slot at Austin City Limits.
Their album, Strange Burden, documents Font’s early stage, crafted over years of improvising, playing, recording, and re-recording in studios and at home. Spanning a concise 28 minutes, the album traverses a wide range of influences and styles, drawing from New Wave, No Wave, rock, punk, and pop while rejecting nostalgia and pushing their influences into the future.
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