EX REVERIE

Prog Folk • United States

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Ex Reverie biography
Ex Reverie is the North American psychedelic folk rock project of peripatetic singer-songwriter Gillian Chadwick, accompanied by an ever-changing cast of collaborators. As of 2021, Ex Reverie is again based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the city of its founding, and Chadwick's most recent lineup consists of Fern Knight's Jesse Sparhawk, A Sunny Day in Glasgow's Josh Meakim and Pissed Jeans' Sean McGuinness. A member of fellow folk duos Rusalnaia and Woodwose, Chadwick formed Ex Reverie in the mid-2000s with her then-husband David while their primary band Golden Ball was winding down, continuing its avant-folk trajectory but in a more rock and psych-oriented direction. Chadwick wryly described her style as "glam rock from the year 1066," paying homage to the influences of her youth such as Jefferson Airplane and David Bowie, whose echoes can indeed be heard in Ex Reverie's gothic glam-folk-prog fusion alongside nods to Mellow Candle, Fairport Convention, Comus and even Black Sabbath.

Chadwick made her introduction with the independently-released limited edition CDR Phronesis in 2005, which featured among its players fellow Golden Ball member and Enumclaw mastermind Norman Fetter. Ex Reverie later signed to Language of Stones, the label of Espers' Greg Weeks and his wife Jessica, recruiting their production and performance talents to flesh out Chadwick's debut LP. Chadwick recorded a multitude of instruments at Greg's Hexham Head Studio, accompanied by David on bass, her Woodwose partner Jessica on flute, Fern Knight's Margie Wienk on strings, Julius Masri on drums and additional violinists Gretchen Lohse and Katt Hernandez, culminating in 2008's The Door Into Summer. The band also contributed a cover of the Cure's "The Hanging Garden" to the Perfect as Cats tribute compilation later in the year.

Ex Reverie's follow-up, the Praxis EP, arrived in 2011 via Bandcamp, realised with the help of Kohoutek's Jeff Zeigler (keyboards/vocals), Oiseaux-Temp�te's Ben McConnell (drums), Jonathan Nigro (drums), the War on Drugs' David Hartley (horns) and Jesse Sparhawk (bass). The following year, Chadwick relocated to Providence, Rhode Island and released the 2013 digital-only single Stay, recorded with her multi-instrumentalist friend Mike Kennedy of Audible during her Philadelphia days. Chadwick later moved yet again, this time to Scotland, where she issued her sophomore concept album, Isobel Gowdie, in 2019, working with Glaswegian artist Julia Jeffrey a...Ex Reverie is the North American psychedelic folk rock project of peripatetic singer-songwriter Gillian Chadwick, accompanied by an ever-changing cast of collaborators. As of 2021, Ex Reverie is again based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the city of its founding, and Chadwick's most recent lineup consists of Fern Knight's Jesse Sparhawk, A Sunny Day in Glasgow's Josh Meakim and Pissed Jeans' Sean McGuinness. A member of fellow folk duos Rusalnaia and Woodwose, Chadwick formed Ex Reverie in the mid-2000s with her then-husband David while their primary band Golden Ball was winding down, continuing its avant-folk trajectory but in a more rock and psych-oriented direction. Chadwick wryly described her style as "glam rock from the year 1066," paying homage to the influences of her youth such as Jefferson Airplane and David Bowie, whose echoes can indeed be heard in Ex Reverie's gothic glam-folk-prog fusion alongside nods to Mellow Candle, Fairport Convention, Comus and even Black Sabbath.

Chadwick made her introduction with the independently-released limited edition CDR Phronesis in 2005, which featured among its players fellow Golden Ball member and Enumclaw mastermind Norman Fetter. Ex Reverie later signed to Language of Stones, the label of Espers' Greg Weeks and his wife Jessica, recruiting their production and performance talents to flesh out Chadwick's debut LP. Chadwick recorded a multitude of instruments at Greg's Hexham Head Studio, accompanied by David on bass, her Woodwose partner Jessica on flute, Fern Knight's Margie Wienk on strings, Julius Masri on drums and additional violinists Gretchen Lohse and Katt Hernandez, culminating in 2008's The Door Into Summer. The band also contributed a cover of the Cure's "The Hanging Garden" to the Perfect as Cats tribute compilation later in the year.

Ex Reverie's follow-up, the Praxis EP, arrived in 2011 via Bandcamp, realised with the help of Kohoutek's Jeff Zeigler (keyboards/vocals), Oiseaux-Temp�te's Ben McConnell (drums), Jonathan Nigro (drums), the War on Drugs' David Hartley (horns) and Jesse Sparhawk (bass). The following year, Chadwick relocated to Providence, Rhode Island and released the 2013 digital-only single Stay, recorded with her multi-instrumentalist friend Mike Kennedy of Audible during her Philadelphia days. Chadwick later moved yet again, this time to Scotland, where she issued her sophomore concept album, Isobel Gowdie, in 2019, working with Glaswegian artist Julia Jeffrey and a new incarnation of the band, featuring Alasdair C. Mitchell of Trembling Bells (bass), Justin Lumsden of Bigg Hogg (lead guitars) and Stephen Douglas of the Trash Can Sinatras (drums).

Similar artists in the archives include Fern Knight, Silver Summit, Espers, Constantine and Dust Mountain.

- Gordy, January 2024read more