Tenci is an American band from Chicago, Illinois. The group is fronted by Jess Shoman on vocals and guitar, with Curtis Oren on saxophone and guitar, Izzy Reidy on bass, and Joseph Farago on drums.

History

Jess Shoman began making music at the age of 14. She taught herself to play guitar by watching YouTube videos and sang in the high school choir. Shoman named her band after her grandmother Hortencia. When speaking about her, Shoman has said, “My grandma's not a musician, but I remember always hearing her singing while she was doing chores. She has this really beautiful, romantic vibrato and I feel like I at first subtly started mimicking that. Our voices are similar in that way.” In 2018, she released her first EP, ''I opened my mouth and nothing came out'', under the name Tenci''.'' Shoman sang and played guitar on the project while

Spencer Radcliffe Spencer Radcliffe is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and producer who has also composed instrumental music under the name Blithe Field. Career Radcliffe began releasing music in 2008 under the name Blithe Field, self-releasing an albu ...

played keys and percussion and Tina Scarpello played bass. Radcliffe mixed the project and Michael Mac mastered it. In 2020, shortly after many industries first shut down due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

, Shoman organized 21 of her fellow Chicago musicians in less than a week to create the compilation project ''Days Go By'' with all proceeds of the project going to Brave Space Alliance, a Black/trans/LGBTQI center on the

South Side of Chicago The South Side is an area of Chicago, Illinois, U.S. It lies south of the city's Loop area in the downtown. Geographically, it is the largest of the three sides of the city that radiate from downtown, with the other two being the north and we ...

and Black and Pink Chi, an organization that fights alongside incarcerated

LGBTQI ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is ...

HIV+ The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immun ...

people for

prison abolition The prison abolition movement is a network of groups and activists that seek to reduce or eliminate prisons and the prison system, and replace them with systems of rehabilitation that do not place a focus on punishment and government institutiona ...

. Shoman contributed with Tenci track, "Bugs", that included her singing and playing guitar, Ashley Guerrero on drums, Camila Montoya on second guitar, Ella Williams and Merce Lemon singing harmonies, Curt Oren on flute, and Emily Jane Powers on violin. Michael Mac mixed and mastered the track. On June 5, 2020, Tenci released their first full-length album titled ''My Heart Is an Open Field''. The album was first released through Hobbies, a small label based in Chicago, before being more widely released through Keeled Scales. In addition to Shoman, the album also features Spencer Radcliffe on lead guitar and upright piano, Tina Scarpello on bass, Jack Schemenauer on drums, Madison Chessare on cello, Joseph Farago on xylophone and synth, Sydney Haliburton on synth, Scott Quider on pedal steel guitar, and Curt Oren on saxophone and flute. The album was mixed and mastered by Michael Mac. Track "Blue Spring" features a voicemail from Shoman's grandmother, Hortencia. The album title was inspired by Arthur Russell's album ''Love Is Overtaking Me''. The album received a 7.3 rating from ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...

''. In 2020, Tenci was named one of the best new artists of the year by

NPR Music NPR Music is a project of National Public Radio, an American privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization, that launched in November 2007 to present public radio music programming and original editorial content for music ...

. In 2022, Tenci released ''A Swollen River, A Well Overflowing'', with the solidified line-up of Jess Shoman, Curtis Oren, Izzy Reidy, and Joseph Farago. The project was recorded by Abby Black, mixed by

Melina Duterte Melina Mae Cortez Duterte (born March 25, 1994), better known by her stage name Jay Som, is an American, Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and mixing engineer. Her debut record ''Everybody Works'' was released o ...

, and mastered by Piper Payne. The album received a 7.5 rating from ''Pitchfork,'' who praised the newfound solidity of the band, alongside its ability to "allow Shoman’s talent for harnessing silence to flourish and grow". After the album's release, the band embarked on a 40-city tour.

Discography

Studio albums

* ''My Heart Is an Open Field'' (2020, Keeled Scales) * ''A Swollen River, a Well Overflowing'' (2022, Keeled Scales)

EPs

* ''I opened my mouth and nothing came out'', 2018

Compilation Albums

* ''Days Go By'', 2020

References

{{Reflist Musicians from Chicago American women pop singers American pop guitarists American women singer-songwriters Singer-songwriters from Illinois Indie rock musical groups from Illinois Musical groups from Chicago American indie folk groups 21st-century women guitarists Crossover (music) 21st-century American women musicians American dream pop musical groups American LGBTQ singers American feminist musicians American rock bass guitarists American rock guitarists American women bass guitarists Living people American people of Peruvian descent Hispanic and Latino American musicians 21st-century American bass guitarists Year of birth missing (living people)