* En anglais uniquement
An enduring indie rock project that fascinates with persistent experimentation,
Joan of Arc formed in Chicago following the breakup of emocore band
Cap'n Jazz in 1995.
Tim Kinsella proved to be the only consistent member over the decades and lineups to follow, as the group negotiated emo intimacy, punk influence, and post-rock atmospherics through albums of melodic rock, dark instrumentals, noise experiments, protest song, and high-concept theater music.
Joan of Arc made their full-length debut with the off-kilter emo of
A Portable Model of Joan of Arc in 1997, then consistently pushed boundaries and challenged expectations across releases like
Joan of Arc, Dick Cheney, Mark Twain (2004), the historical court case-inspired
Testimonium Songs (2013), and, after 20 years and even more albums,
He's Got the Whole This Land Is Your Land in His Hands (2017), an improvisation-based set that reached the Top 30 of the Billboard Independent Albums chart. They broke up in 2020, recording their final album,
Tim Melina Theo Bobby, knowing it would be their final statement.
Singer/guitarist
Tim Kinsella, drummer
Mike Kinsella, and bassist
Sam Zurick came from
Cap'n Jazz; when that band broke up, the trio wanted to change their musical direction. They did just that when they started playing with keyboardist/guitarist
Jeremy Boyle and guitarist
Erik Bocek in summer 1996, removing the boundaries and structures of punk and including more experimental elements like tape loops and electronics.
Calling themselves
Joan of Arc, the group went on tour with their friends
the Promise Ring (who also featured ex-
Cap'n Jazz members) in August 1996.
Joan of Arc's live set met with a strong, positive audience, just in time for their first 7" single, Method & Sentiment. After spending the fall of that year writing and recording, the band re-emerged in 1997 with
A Portable Model of Joan of Arc, their full-length debut. The album continued
Joan of Arc's evolution into an equally hard-hitting and progressive outfit that appealed to emo and post-rock fans alike. The following year they returned with
How Memory Works, a more clearly stated version of their ambitious style.
Joan of Arc rang in 1999 with the release of
Live in Chicago 1999.
Gap was released a year later. In February 2003, the band returned with
So Much Staying Alive and Lovelessness, although plans for a much bigger release were skirted to the side. Three months later, that extra material found its way onto In Rape Fantasy and Terror Sex We Trust, capturing
Tim and
Mike Kinsella's darkest work yet. After moving to Polyvinyl, the band recorded the experimental
Joan of Arc, Dick Cheney, Mark Twain and released the album in 2004. Eventually, All at Once, which the band described as a "casual folk-drone record," arrived in 2006 on Record Label. In October 2007, the band scored the creepy and instrumental Orchard Vale Soundtrack, and
Boo! Human arrived in 2008.
Joan of Arc's lineup remained in flux throughout the 2000s, with
Tim Kinsella always remaining at the center of the group. In 2009, the frontman decided to reach out to his former bandmates and assemble
Don't Mind Control, a unique record featuring 18 different bands. Each group included a onetime member of
Joan of Arc, and the resulting album included songs by
Vacations, Ghosts and Vodka, and
Pillars & Tongues. Another collaborative record,
Oh Brother, followed in 2011, although by that time the core band was a four-piece:
Tim Kinsella, bassist
Bobby Burg, and drummer
Theo Katsaounis, joined by guitarist Victor Villareal. (Villareal and
Kinsella were longtime friends who forged a new working relationship after
Cap'n Jazz reunited in 2010.) The quartet returned from a month-long European tour and immediately entered Electrical Audio to record
Life Like with
Steve Albini. The release followed in May 2011.
Testimonium Songs, an album that was high concept even for
Joan of Arc, was released in 2013. The record was a document of songs written for a live collaboration with experimental theater group Every House Has a Door in the group's production based on poet Charles Reznikoff's Testimony, a translation of courtroom transcripts in cases of workplace negligence in early America. With
Boyle back in the lineup to replace the departing Villareal, and artist/vocalist
Melina Ausikaitis named as an official fifth member,
He's Got the Whole This Land Is Your Land in His Hands arrived in early 2017. Following their full-length debut by 20 years, it marked their first appearance on Billboard charts including the Heatseekers and Independent Albums charts. Their next album was originally intended to be half
Joan of Arc instrumentals and half a cappella by
Ausikaitis.
Tim asked his cousin and prior
Joan of Arc collaborator
Nate Kinsella to produce, and
Nate quickly combined the two instead of keeping them separate. Featuring only
Ausikaitis on lead vocals, the resulting
1984 was released in mid-2018. The band decided to break up sometime after touring for
1984 wrapped up, and they entered the studio one last time knowing the songs they were tracking would make up the last
Joan of Arc album. That album, the volatile and disruptively beautiful
Tim Melina Theo Bobby, was released in December of 2020. ~ Heather Phares & Marcy Donelson