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Seashell Radio was recently named “Tucson’s best-kept musical secret” (Mel Mason, Tucson Weekly). The band was formed when four musicians from four corners of the United States converged upon a dusty desert town. Songwriters and singers all, the members of Seashell Radio press the haunting tones of cello, guitar, keys and toms against a harmony-laden electronic cacophony. The textures result in “gorgeously moody tunes” that “recall the sophisticated pop of Talk Talk and Air” (Stephen Seigel, Tucson Weekly). The band members’ origins are as eclectic as their music: Keyboardist and vocalist Cassie Van Gelder grew up in a family of traveling troubadours, and then survived peninsular winters and Canadian food shelf dinners on her way to becoming a piano technician and mender of discord. Before pursuing an MFA in fiction writing, Esmé Schwall (Captain Yonder) strapped her cello to the top of a taxi-brousse to tour with traditional musicians in Madagascar. Her former band was invited to record at Tarbox Road Studios (Flaming Lips, Sparklehorse); the album earned a four-star review in Britain’s Mojo Magazine. Fen Ikner (Knife Crazy, Mexican Session, The Ottersey, Hero Alligator), the band’s drummer and sample wizard, is also a recording engineer; his company is the creator of a new ribbon microphone. In keeping with his bent for invention, Fen helped write a song that was adopted as theme music by NPR’s Science Friday. Some other Seashell Radio facts you should know: The band formed in Tucson in October, 2008. They embarked on their first tour in March, 2009, in support of the release of their first EP, Blue Skies over Black Markets. The tour garnered the band fans and warm welcomes in venues all along the West Coast; they sold over 100 copies of the EP during the tour. The band just returned from its second tour including Vegas and Denver, and is currently writing and compiling songs for its first full-length album; look for it this winter! You can now buy our EP from iTunes! Click here: