RETSIN Egg Fusion 1996
Artist Biography
by Bryan Carroll
Tara Jane O'Neil met Cynthia Nelson in 1993, when their respective bands (Rodan, Ruby Falls)
were embarking on their first sets of extended national tours. Sharing a
love of simple home recording techniques and melodic indie rock, the
two became romantically and musically involved in 1994, collaborating as
Retsin while retaining membership in their other bands, as well as
participating in a number of varied projects and acting in the
independent feature film Half-Cocked. The following year, the duo signed
to the staunchly independent Simple Machines label, on which they
released their debut full-length, Egg Fusion.
Constantly involving themselves in innumerable bands recordings, O'Neil
began working with her chamber folk outfit the Sonora Pine, while
Nelson set about recording the first Ruby Falls
LP. For the next two years, Retsin toured extensively, both with and
without a rhythm section, as they increased their aptitude for playing
acoustic-based music in a live setting. On one of those tours, opening
for New York City's Ida
led to a folky collaboration that was recorded in one day, called Ida
Retsin Family. After Simple Machines folded in 1998, Retsin found
kindred spirits in the proprietors of the Chicago-based Carrot Top
label. Over the band's following two records, 1998's Sweet Luck of Amaryllis and 2001's Cabin in the Woods,
Retsin blossomed into a capable neo-folk outfit, all but abandoning the
electric guitar and standard instrumentation of indie rock for banjo,
accordion, and violin.
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