Luke Wyland

Luke Wyland, Portland, OR 2008

Luke Wyland is the multi-instrumentalist behind Portland, Oregon experimental pop group AU. Wyland started AU in 2005 while completing a degree at the Massachusetts College of Art. He later moved cross-country to Portland, Oregon and established a base in its music community. Now a working live band, AU features an ever-changing roster of players, recently including Jonathan Sielaff (Parenthetical Girls, Nick Jaina) on guitar, clarinets and saw; and Dana Valatka (Jackie-O_Motherfucker, Mustaphamond) on drums. Contributors to AU's recordings included Mark Kaylor (Hamor of Hathor, CexFucx), Becky Dawson (Saw Whet, Ah Holly Fam’ly), and Sarah Winchester (A Weather).

Its debut album was praised by such media centers as Pitchfork and Stereogum, and was named #2 Portland Album of 2007 by the Portland Mercury, which said AU “manages to erase the high art/low art boundary between American contemporary classical music and American pop music, blending them into a simple, compelling, verse-chorus celebration... (and) is the rare band that can reinvent its songs live and still manage to match their recorded quality."

AU released its second album, Verbs, in June 2008 with Aagoo Records and Force Field PR. An EP, Versions, was released October 2009 and features new and old material arranged and performed by the touring duo of Wyland and Dana Valatka.

Discography

Albums

• peaofthesea (2005) as "luc"
• Au (2007)
• Verbs (2008)
• Versions (2009)
• Both Lights (2012)

Singles

• "RR vs. D" (2008)
• "Solid Gold" (2012)

References

• Harvey, Eric (July, 2007) [1]
• Nadelle, David (December, 2007) [2]

External links

• Official website
• AU on Myspace