Secret Cities is an American

independent rock Indie rock is a 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 record labels, by th ...

band from

North Dakota North Dakota ( ) is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota people, Dakota and Sioux peoples. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minneso ...

, United States. Its founding members, Charles Gokey and Marie J. Parker, met at a band camp in July 2001, while in

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

. Although the two lived 500 km apart, in

Fargo, North Dakota Fargo is the List of cities in North Dakota, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Dakota and the county seat of Cass County, North Dakota, Cass County. The population was 125,990 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, which was e ...

and

Williston, North Dakota Williston is a city in and the county seat of Williams County, North Dakota, United States. The 2020 census gave its population as 29,160, making Williston the sixth-most populous city in North Dakota. The city's population nearly doubled betwe ...

, respectively, the two started making music by exchanging tapes in the mail and composing using four-track recorders. They continued in this fashion until February 2004, when the pair changed their name to The Foliage and put out their first release on Fall Records, a split with In Ink Please entitled "How to Make Better Love." In July 2005 the band released a mini-LP, ''Zurich'' on Fall Records under the moniker The White Foliage. The group also added a third member, Alex Abnos, during a tour of the Midwest in that year. In 2008, after an extended hiatus, the band released the Bright Teeth EP, marking a shift toward a pop-ier, more electronic sound. The band changed its name to Secret Cities after signing to

Western Vinyl Western Vinyl is an independent record label founded in 1998 and based in Austin, Texas. The imprint was formed by Brian Sampson and Ryan Murphy originally to release their lo-fi indie rock projects as Win Foster and Havergal. Artists *Abram S ...

Records in 2010 where they have since released three full-length albums.

Members

*Charles Gokey:

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

concertina A concertina is a free-reed musical instrument, like the various accordions and the harmonica. It consists of expanding and contracting bellows, with buttons (or keys) usually on both ends, unlike accordion buttons, which are on the front. The ...

*Marie J. Parker: vocals, piano, guitar,

french horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most o ...

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

, trumpet, saxophone *Alex Abnos: drums, vocals, percussion, guitar, ukulele

Discography

As The White Foliage: *''How to Make Better Love'' Split CD with In Ink Please (Fall Records 2004) *''Zurich'' mini-LP (Fall Records 2004) *''Bright Teeth'' EP (Fall Records 2008) iTunes only. As Secret Cities: *''Pink Graffiti'' LP (

2010) *''Strange Hearts'' LP (

2011) *''Walk Me Home'' LP (

2014)

References

External links

Secret Cities' official website
Indie rock musical groups from North Dakota Musical groups established in 2001 Western Vinyl artists {{US-indie-rock-band-stub