LINE, Kiernan, Uncle JIM

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Mason Georgeson

The five members of LINE sitting on a couch.

LINE

media release: Kiernan is the project of Minneapolis-based musician Laura Kiernan (she/her). Drawing sound inspirations from the likes of Big Thief, Waxahatchee, and John Prine, her songwriting mixes folk with indie rock and a hint of country. In May 2021, Laura released her first song entitled “Genie,” which she recorded in her bedroom and sent to Jared Johnson, guitarist and sound engineer, to mix and master. The single was inspired by the story of Genie Chance, a radio producer in Anchorage during the Great Alaskan Earthquake of 1964 – which Laura first heard while listening to a podcast. It drew the attention of New York Times’ Daily producers, who featured it in their newsletter.

After many many voice memos, in 2023, Kiernan (the band) came together. Laura is joined by Jared on guitar, Nate LeBrun (Humbird, Squinny) on drums, and Maddie Thies (anni xo, Sister Species, Willow Waters) on bass. They played their biggest headlining show yet in June 2024, drawing a nearly sold-out crowd at Minneapolis’ First Avenue – 7th Street Entry for the release of their first EP, Magnetic North. And just this December 2024, they were honored to be named by First Avenue one of their Best New Bands. The band hopes their music nourishes your ears like a nice hunk of bread. It’s just like when you’re feeding the pigeons: soft, silly, spacious and best done with friends.

An indie pop band unafraid to stretch and play with labels, LINE weaves singer-songwriter sensibilities with multigenre arrangements. Vocalist Maddie Batzli works with bandmates Austin Lynch, Esther Chun, and other collaborators to create songs that include multi-part harmonies, intricate slap basslines, folk instrumentation, and electronic synth tracks. LINE’s songs seek to span a wide range of emotion, often within a single verse, with personal reflection, queer love, and social commentary showing up as common themes. As a queer band, LINE’s willingness to explore paradoxes extends to playful stage aesthetics and lyrics centering philosophical questions, at once campy and achingly sincere. By sharing the vulnerability of holding multiple truths at once, LINE aims to invite listeners to live more deeply into their own experiences. From daring to acknowledge (and contain) multitudes comes much needed space for possibility, rare in a time when pessimism and hope can often feel like a binary.

In smaller spaces, LINE leans acoustic, sharing folk-pop, lyric driven songs. As a full band, LINE plays in a broader range of genres.

Uncle JIM is a Madison folk pop act formed with a common bond for music that makes you feel at home.

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