The alias of Lawrence, Kansas-based singer/songwriter
Taryn Blake Miller,
Your Friend began as a one-woman show, with
Miller working out her enigmatic songs in a live setting via her atmospheric guitar work and soaring voice. Through word of mouth and a flurry of high-energy house shows,
Miller eventually moved on to bigger venues, often enlisting a rotating cast of local musicians to back her up, and eventually landing opening slots for national touring bands. A recording deal with Domino Records was struck, and
Miller began working on her debut EP with co-producer
Jordan Geiger (
Hospital Ships), who helped
Miller flesh out her dreamy indie rock anthems with layers of bass, drums, keyboards, and vocals. The resulting much buzzed-about
Jekyll/Hyde was released in early 2014. After a major tour supporting the EP,
Miller returned home to Kansas to write the material for her first full-length, which she recorded with producer
Nicolas Vernhes (
the War on Drugs,
Deerhunter) in Brooklyn, New York. The highly textured LP
Gumption arrived via Domino in January 2016. ~ James Christopher Monger