Warren Dunes + Litvar

Led by keyboardist/vocalist Julia Massey, Warren Dunes ’ signature sound is highlighted by Massey’s double keyboards and crystalline voice soaring over chiming guitars and thundering drums from husband Jared Cortese and his brother Dominic Cortese . A longtime Seattle favorite, Warren Dunes gained national attention following an in-studio performance on KEXP and widespread college radio airplay for their debut LP, Get Well Soon. Their most recent LP, Aquamarine, was voted one of KEXP listeners’ Top 50 Albums of 2024, and in 2026 Warren Dunes was one of ten Seattle bands honored by their peers with a Sonic Guild grant. Their new EP, The Cottage Sounds, Vol. 2: Warren Dunes - Growing Up, brings together collaborations recorded with artists and producers in Los Angeles and New York over the past two years. The collection takes its name from Cottage Sounds, the Los Angeles studio of producer Charles Newman, who mixed and co-arranged much of the EP and is releasing it through his label, Mother West. Being Here , the third album from Litvar , is a record about endings and new beginnings. Inspired by the loss of frontman Rex Thurstan' s father, these story-driven songs shine a light on the long climb from grief to restoration, filled with folksy sounds including the J-45 acoustic guitar that served as Thurstan's primary writing tool that expand beyond the band's critically-acclaimed indie rock sound. Caught halfway between the raw roots of The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan , the sonic experimentation of Wilco, and the electronic soundscapes of Brian Eno and Porter Robinson, Being Here casts the widest net of Litvar's career.  "It's a bare, stripped-back folk record," Thurstan says, "but it has a modern touch, too. You can't mistake it for old music, because the landscapes of each song are clearly contemporary."   Working with drummer and chief collaborator Joe Lemieux , he created those landscapes at home in Connecticut, reaching out to guitarist Violet Falkowski and bassist John Blues McCarthy to help fill the album with melody, mood, and recurring motifs. The result is an intimate album for late nights and early mornings, encompassing everything from the sonic sweep of " Yeah I Know" and " Waiting For Something,"  upbeat songs that could've appeared on the band's first two releases, to the bare-boned, jazz-inspired shuffle of "Backstab."  Throughout it all, there's no mistaking the sorrow and struggle that inspired these tracks.