Dean Wareham

On March 10 Dean Wareham released his first ever solo album via Double Feature and Sonic Cathedral. Titled 'Dean Wareham', it features 9 songs produced by Jim James (My Morning Jacket), recorded at James' house in Louisville, Kentucky. James also contributes keyboards, electric guitars and backing vocals.

Dean Wareham is counted as one of the original voices of American indie rock, his band Galaxie 500 emerging from Boston in 1988 and making three celebrated albums for Rough Trade (recently reissued on Domino Records).

"Galaxie 500 were the ultimate cult group," wrote Bookforum, "a band who set the stage for the indie scene of the 21st century."

His next band Luna recorded seven albums for Elektra and Beggar's Banquet (including Penthouse, on Rolling Stone's list of best albums of the '90s), followed by three albums as Dean & Britta (with Britta Phillips). In 2013 he released a six-song solo mini-album, Emancipated Hearts.

Wareham is also a writer, he contributes to Salon and the Talkhouse, and his memoir Black Postcards is now a Penguin paperback. He recently appeared acting in the Noah Baumbach film Frances Ha. Born in New Zealand, and having spent most of his life in New York City, he currently lives in Los Angeles.

His songs have been covered by Beck, Ryan Adams, and Joanna Gruesome, and he is cited as an influence on bands from Pavement to the National, Liz Phair to the Brian Jonestown Massacre (who titled their LP And This Is Our Music in response to the Galaxie 500 album This Is Our Music).

Praise for Wareham's 2013 mini-album, Emancipated Hearts:

Pitchfork: "It's stunning how much life (and death) Wareham spreads over these tracks, and makes these tiny whispers of songs feel like the biggest secret anyone's ever told you."
Rolling Stone: 3.5 stars - "One of the great New York guitar sophisticates"
NME: 8 out of 10 - "Just six tracks, yet more complete than most full albums we've heard this year."

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