Formed in Chicago in 2016, now based in Brooklyn, Silver Liz is the musical collaboration between Carrie and Matt Wagner, a married couple who met in a music practice room during college after discovering a mutual love for The Strokes. Since their formation, Silver Liz has consistently surprised their audience on almost every release by exploring entirely disparate genres. Whether it be shoegaze, electronica, or acoustic pop, their music contains a distinctiveness marked by Carrie’s dreamy vocals and Matt’s lush production with a DIY flair.
After releasing their first album I Can Feel the Weight in 2017, which encompassed dreampop, shoegaze, and noisepop, the duo returned in 2020 with two singles. The first was the psychedelia-tinged bedroom pop song “Microwave S'mores,” which Impose Magazine described as a “delightfully mind-bending listening experience” and was featured on Polyvinyl Record Co.’s Direction Spotify playlist. The second single, “There's No Need,” blends lofi house, shoegaze, and vaporwave. It climbed to #1 on Hype Machine, received praise from Indie Shuffle, and was included in Gus Lobban's (Kero Kero Bonito) Cool Songs 2020 end of year playlist. In 2021, Silver Liz followed up with another dreamy electronic track called “Roman Candle Part II,” which they debuted in a performance that earned them a victory in the virtual reality Battle of the Bands competition hosted by George Clanton and Neggy Gemmy’s 100% Electronica label. In his reaction to the performance of There's No Need in the first round, George Clanton said, "This is my Lost in Translation soundtrack moment,” and Neggy Gemmy called it "Amazing...Brilliant."
In praise of their second single “Thousand” which Silver Liz put out in early 2022, Under the Radar said, “With their latest effort, Silver Liz’s talent for genre-blending makes for indie rock magic, marrying together graceful pop vocals, stately acoustic strumming, and a raging grungy climax... Even as the duo barrel towards the track’s end, Carrie’s sweet vocal melodies add a certain bright warmth, a gorgeous ray of light shining through the surrounding storm.” Thousand was also included in Spotify's Fresh Finds Indie editorial playlist in April 2022.
Of Silver Liz’s fourth single this year called “Missing the Party”, Post-Punk.com said, “Taking cues from everyone from Throwing Muses to Cocteau Twins to Electrelane to Stereolab, the wistful track is anchored with a dreamy vocal and staccato synth. The track suddenly crashes to a halt with a muffled spoken word and wild distortion, interrupting the dream flow with a cacophony of static and fuzz, sounding like a radio station trapped between frequencies on a mountain road.”
Silver Liz's sophomore album It Is Lighter Than You Think came out via their new label Extremely Pure™ on November 14th, 2022. While the ethereal vocals, melodic instinct, and lyrical themes are what unify their songs, this record pushes the duo’s music into an even wider variety of styles.