The Posies

Rock ‘n’ roll has rarely been as smart, soulful or satisfying than it has in the hands of The Posies. During an on/off career that’s spanned three decades, the Seattle-rooted outfit, led by musical polymaths Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow, have shaped and re-shaped their muse, creating one of the more compelling catalogues in modern pop.

From the very beginning, the band sired a succession of classic LPs – including the now seminal Dear 23 and Frosting on the Beater– that served as joyous rejoinders to a generation mired in grunge. And yet, for much of their history, the band has been playing a game of genre tag semantics, dodging facile and limiting descriptions like “power pop” and “retro pop” — terms which initially greeted their 1988 debut, Failure.

Following a professional and personal split between Auer and Stringfellow at the end of the ‘90s, the second act of The Posies’ career began with 2005’s triumphant reunion effort, Every Kind of Light. The group’s first studio album in nearly a decade was a musically plangent and lyrically politicized album — informed heavily by the foibles of the Bush Administration and the Iraq War – that reintroduced The Posies to the world in grand fashion.

In the ensuing years, the band members pursued various projects on their own, spread throughout the world, with Stringfellow working from his homebase in France, Auer settling in Seattle, drummer Darius Minwalla in Vancouver, Canada, and bassist Matt Harris in California.

Ultimately, the magic of The Posies lies in the special chemistry between Auer and Stringfellow. Like any great partnership, it’s one that’s had its ups and downs, stops and starts, over the years. But those experiences have simply served to strengthen the bonds between them.