Biography

In Tall Buildings began as the long-in-the-making solo project of Chicago musician Erik Hall. As guitarist and multi-instrumentalist for Afro-beat revivalists Nomo, Hall's touring schedule was busy for the majority of the mid- to late 2000s. During downtime from Nomo and other commitments, Hall chipped away at his home recordings of extremely textured, wistful folk-pop. Between 2006 and 2008, he fine-tuned the eight tracks that would make up his first solo outing, choosing the moniker In Tall Buildings midway through the recording process. The name reflected on both the urban environments where he spent his childhood and the high-rise apartment where he recorded and mixed the songs. Hall handled all vocal duties and played all the instruments on the record with the exception of a clarinet solo by Nomo bandmate Elliot Bergman. The self-titled debut was released in spring of 2010. With an album fully materialized, Hall assembled a band to play the tunes out live, enlisting drummer Quin Kirchner and bassist Matt Ulery as full-time members, with occasional auxiliary support from Icy Demons' Christopher Schreck on keyboards or Michael Tolan on second guitar. The trio of core members embarked on several tours in support of the album, sharing stages with the likes of Sharon Van Etten, Here We Go Magic, and many others. Reaction to the album was strong: it charted on the CMJ Top 200 and earned the band invitations to appear at South by Southwest, Midpoint Music Festival, Tomorrow Never Knows Festival, and 2011's Toronto International Film Festival. In addition to its time on the road, the band recorded a session for online live performance archive Daytrotter, as well as releasing an extremely limited 7" in conjunction with 2011's Record Store Day festivities. Over the next three years, Hall worked on recording the second In Tall Buildings album, playing occasional festivals and shows in and around Chicago, including supporting bands such as Tennis and Kishi Bashi. A true solo effort with Hall handling all songwriting, performance, and production tasks, Driver was released on Western Vinyl in early 2015. He went on to produce records for artists such as experimental electronic musician Justin Walter and indie folk band Lean Year before finishing another home-assembled collection, this time with help from producer/engineer Brian Deck (Modest Mouse, Iron & Wine). Titled Akinetic, it followed in early 2018. ~ Fred Thomas, Rovi