CatchLight Recordings Artist: Credit Electric
Credit Electric was founded in 2017 by songwriter Ryan LoPilato and guitarist Cameron Iturri-Carpenter. After a handful of years recording under the solo moniker Haunted Houses, LoPilato moved from his home state of New Jersey and settled in Oakland, CA, where he met Iturri-Carpenter, a Sonoma native who had just returned to the golden state after a tenure in Kansas performing in honky tonk bands.
The pair began playing together regularly, writing and arranging what would become their self-titled debut album. Produced by Thom Monahan (Devendra Banhart, Fruit Bats, Vetiver), the album was fleshed out by pedal steel guitarist Evan Hiller, bassist Nathan Smith, and drummer/engineer Stephen Boyd and featured Eric D. Johnson of Fruit Bats on keyboards. In it, the band explored organic sounds combining early 70’s American folk-rock with a rustic indie sensibility topped by LoPilato's world weary drawl and lyrics.
Now a full band, the group began playing around in the Bay Area. From headlining shows at local haunts Starline Social Club and Amnesia, to supporting groups including US Girls, Japanese Breakfast, Bitchin’ Bajas and more, the band built a loyal local following. In 2018 they played the Huichica Music Festival in Sonoma and in 2019 hit the road with Fruit Bats and Vetiver touring the West Coast in support of their debut album.
When the pandemic hit, the band shifted its focus from live arrangements to a more experimental vibe centered around solo home recordings. Holed up in his home studio, LoPilato has been developing a new synesthetic sound that we at CatchLight are very excited about. Returning to his background, LoPilato began writing lyrics and structuring compositions through the lens of surrealist automatism. Building from shifting foundations, LoPilato has been drawing the boundaries of his songs across new sonic milieux and plateaux for Iturri-Carpenter and Hiller to array their textures across. Through this musicianship, the artists of Credit Electric explore new dimensions of the collective unconscious in expressionistic pop vignettes.
A number of these new compositions can be heard in singles the band self-released across 2021 and which they will be releasing in compilation form on Royal Oakie Records next year. Meanwhile, they are currently wrapping up their second studio album as well, forthcoming on CatchLight Recordings in 2022.