Washed Out

The modern tale of Washed Out’s fame isn’t an uncommon one: Musician makes bedroom tracks and nonchalantly posts them online, blog world picks up on the idea, and the rest is music-festival-circuit history. But when Washed Out (aka Ernest Greene) began creating his down-tempo, lo-fi synth brilliance within the confines of his parents’ rural Georgia home a few years ago, it was just one of many musical incarnations he’d been working on. Greene braved the hype, producing a handful of EPs released in digital and limited-edition physical form before being signed to the famed Sub Pop label. Washed Out’s first full-length record for Sub Pop, 2011’s Within and Without, bears an uncanny sonic resemblance to the work of friend and fellow chill waver Toro Y Moi, but with a glittering and slowed aesthetic all its own. Live, Greene brings along a full band to back his solemn vocals, conducting Washed Out’s sensual style and heavy percussion from behind a keyboard.