Iglu & Hartly

Iglu & Hartly

Iglu & Hartly are an American band from California, active from 2008 and made up of Jarvis Anderson, Simon Katz and Sam Martin. The group also includes Luis Rosiles on drums and Michael Bucher on bass. Anderson handles vocals and keys, Martin sings and plays keys, and Katz plays guitar.

Formation and members

Jarvis Anderson, Sam Martin and Simon Katz meet at the University of Colorado at Boulder, then leave college and move to Echo Park in California to focus on music. After the move to Los Angeles, Rosiles flies in from Chicago to join on drums, and Bucher joins locally as bassist.

Releases and reception

The band first draws attention in the UK and is played by Jim Gellatly on Xfm Scotland. It signs with Mercury Records, but first issues its debut UK single, “Violent & Young”, on the independent label Another Music = Another Kitchen. The follow-up single, “In This City”, is released in September and becomes their first hit, reaching number five in the UK charts after being performed on Friday Night With Jonathan Ross on BBC1.

Their album receives sharply divided reactions. One NME review gives it a very low score and is highly critical, while other coverage is more favourable, and the band appears in more than 15 NME pieces and on the NME Awards Tour. The album and the group receive a mixed but generally significant response from the press and the public.

Later activity

The band is later described as being on hiatus and without plans for a second record. Anderson says he is working solo. Martin and Katz start a new project, Youngblood Hawke, which releases an EP and begins receiving UK radio play.