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 Silver Liz's second record It Is Lighter Than You Think which they released via their new label Extremely Pure™ in 2022, Lio Cerezo of Kanine Records said "Silver Liz make incredible indie pop." The album also received praise from Under the Radar who said, “Their debut record introduced the pair via a gauzy combination of dream pop and shoegaze, but their follow-up explodes their horizons outward, encompassing a constantly-shifting expanse of genres and showcasing an impressive refusal to limit their sound to any one direction.” The record's second single "Thousand" was also included in Spotify's Fresh Finds Indie editorial playlist in 2022, and their song "High at the Gym" was featured on Marine Snow.
Of Silver Liz’s track “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.”
Artists Silver Liz has performed with include Kero Kero Bonito, PYNKIE, Couch Prints, See Through Dresses, Panda Riot, Joy Cleaner, Mute Swan, Sleep Walk, Brianna Brown, and Nikki Taylor. Silver Liz has performed in Breaking Sound's Unpublished NYC showcase series in 2022. They played their newest record’s vinyl release show at Mercury Lounge, and played at 18th Ward Brewing as a part of the 2023 Summer Saturdays series presented by The New Colossus Festival. They are currently working on their third record, planning a winter tour, and will be performing as an official showcasing artist at The New Colossus Festival 2024 in New York City.