underscores - umru

Origin stories replay familiar myths; this one begins with a child alone in their bedroom, trying to create something no one has ever heard before. Originaire de San Francisco, the American-Filipino artist April Harper Grey started making music under the name underscores in middle school. After years of tinkering on GarageBand, she finally realized that if she took this urge "to be like Skrillex" seriously, it could actually lead to something big. For years, underscores released a series of unique tracks on SoundCloud, which allowed her to connect with like-minded artists and build a growing community of fans. But it wasn't until 2017, with the release of her EP skin purifying treatment, that the project left its isolation and began to attract a much broader audience. In 2021, underscores released her debut album, fishmonger, written and recorded in that very same childhood bedroom amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. This project propelled underscores from simply recording vocals in a car to opening for 100 Gecs on the American leg of the 10,000 Gecs tour. Before hitting the road, underscores released another project, boneyard aka fearmonger, a collection of seven tracks evoking both the peak and the aftermath of the craziest night of your life. In the wake of 10,000 Gecs, her first mini-tour sold out in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and her hometown of San Francisco. Since then, underscores has performed on the main stage at Lollapalooza, in Electric Forest, FVDED in the Park, and Corona Capital CDMX, with concerts scheduled at the Ceremonia CDMX festival in march and at Governors Ball in june 2024. Independent since her beginnings, underscores signed with Mom+Pop last year and released her latest acclaimed project, Wallsocket. This 12-track narrative album explores the lives of the residents of the fictional town of Wallsocket, Michigan. Around this release, she plunged her fans into an alternate reality game (ARG), with various websites unlocking unreleased tracks and exclusive gifts. The goal of the album was to jolt listeners out of their torpor, and it succeeded. After all, that is the essence of underscores: "When people listen to underscores, I want their first reaction to be: 'This is nonsense.' But the more they listen, the more they must perceive the nuances, the depth, and hopefully they will connect with it emotionally. The ultimate goal is to unsettle them, and then win them back."