Cafuné is an American

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with a DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and s ...

duo formed in 2014 by singer-songwriter Sedona Schat and producer Noah Yoo. The two met at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

. Their single, " Tek It", from their debut album, ''Running'' (2021) went viral, and they were subsequently signed to

Elektra Records Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the ...

in 2022.

History

Noah Yoo was raised in

Fairfax, Virginia Fairfax ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia and the county seat of Fairfax County, Virginia, in the United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 24,146. Fairfax is pa ...

, where he grew up playing violin and eventually playing guitar in high school bands. He and Sedona Schat both began attending the Clive Davis Institute at

in 2012, where the two met and bonded over their appreciation of

Two Door Cinema Club Two Door Cinema Club are a British rock band formed in Bangor, County Down, Bangor, Northern Ireland in 2007. The band is composed of three members: Alex Trimble (vocals, rhythm guitar, beats, synths), Sam Halliday (lead guitar, backing vocals), ...

. Sedona Schat grew up in

Gardnerville, Nevada Gardnerville is an unincorporated town in Douglas County, Nevada, United States, adjacent to the county seat of Minden. The population was 6,211 at the 2020 census. U.S. Route 395 runs through the center of Gardnerville. State Route 207, kn ...

where she graduated from Douglas High School. Her family owns a bakery chain on the west coast, Schat's Bakeries. She found a love for music in her youth and was known for her local performances before moving to New York for college. In their sophomore year, Yoo worked on one of Schat's songs, and Cafuné was started as a side project for both of them the following year when Yoo briefly lived with Schat. Yoo also worked as a staffer for ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

''. Both Yoo and Schat attended a Masterclass session with

Pharrell Williams Pharrell Lanscilo Williams (; born April 5, 1973), also known mononymously as Pharrell, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer, and fashion designer. He first became known as one half of the music production duo ...

among other selected CDI students held in the

New York University Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic, and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, as the School of the Arts at New York University, Tisch ...

in 2016. Cafuné released their debut single, "Letting Go", in 2014. They released their debut EP, ''Love Songs for Other People'', in 2015. ''Running'', their debut album, was written and produced by the duo at their homes over several years, recorded throughout the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

in 2020, and released on July 20, 2021 through their own label, Aurelians Club. The song reconsider was mixed by Kyle Pulley at

Headroom Studios Headroom Studios is a music recording studio in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was originally started by Kyle Pulley and Joe Reinhart in 2008 in a room in a live/work artist warehouse collective, located in North Philadelphia, until it moved to ...

. The album featured the singles "High", "Want Me Out", and " Tek It", the last of which went viral on

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

in early 2022 due to its use in anime edits and other trends on the platform, which prompted

to sign the duo in June 2022. They opened for

Chvrches Chvrches (stylised CHVRCHΞS and pronounced "Churches") are a Scottish synth-pop band from Glasgow, formed in September 2011. The band consists of Lauren Mayberry, Iain Cook, Martin Doherty and, unofficially since 2018, Jonny Scott. Mostly deriv ...

on their summer 2022 tour. "Tek It" was sampled by

Lil Uzi Vert Symere Bysil Woods ( ; born July 31, 1995), known professionally as Lil Uzi Vert, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, they gained initial recognition following the release of the commer ...

for their track " Red Moon", released on December 25, 2023. That year, the duo released two new extended plays: ''Love Songs for the End'' in October, and its follow-up, ''Versions for the End'', in December. On May 28, 2025, the band released their new single, "e-Asphyxiation", along with an announcement for a new album, "Bite Reality", scheduled for release on September 12, 2025.

Musical style

Cafuné's music has been described as

alt-pop Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

dream pop Dream pop (also typeset as dreampop) is a subgenre of alternative rock and neo-psychedelia that emphasizes atmosphere and sonic texture as much as pop melody. Common characteristics include breathy vocals, dense productions, and effects such ...

, and

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

. Their earlier music was

electropop Electropop is a popular music fusion genre combining elements of the electronic and pop styles. It has been described as a variant of synth-pop with emphasis on a hard electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a rev ...

and

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s b ...

, and their music became more

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

-oriented after they played at various college shows.

Discography

Studio albums

Live albums

Extended plays

Singles

References

{{reflist American indie pop groups Musical duos from New York (state) American pop music duos American rock music duos American indie rock groups Deep house musicians American electropop groups American synth-pop groups Male–female musical duos Musical groups established in 2014 American dream pop musical groups Musical groups from Brooklyn 2014 establishments in New York City