The Bright Light Social Hour

Conjuring a bold new version of psychedelia informed by hard rock, R&B, electronica, and pop, Texas combo the Bright Light Social Hour, emerged in the late 2000s, taking the rich tradition of Lone Star trippiness and both preserving it and updating it for a new time and place. Following a series of indie releases, their eponymous 2010 debut full-length helped make them the toast of Austin and subsequent touring put them on the national map. Their acclaimed 2015 follow-up, Space Is Still the Place, found an even wider audience through key placements in major television shows, setting the stage for 2018's Jim Eno-produced Missing Something EP.

The Bright Light Social Hour first came together in 2004 when founding members Jack O’Brien (keyboards and vocals) and Curtis Roush (guitar) were students at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, less than an hour's drive from Austin, the state's busiest city for music. Initially part of a college art-rock cooperative, O'Brien and Roush teamed up with drummer Thomas Choate and bassist Ryan O’Donoghue and began playing shows with local punk and alternative bands. By 2006, Choate's studies took him away from Texas, and Joseph Mirasole, who had learned his percussion skills playing with a drum corps, joined the group. In 2007, the Bright Light Social Hour recorded their first EP, Touches, and following the departure of Ryan O’Donoghue, O'Brien moved from keys to bass. The band recruited a new keyboard player, A.J. Vincent, and issued a second EP, Love Like Montopolis, in 2008