GEORGE

Drummer John Hollenbeck founded GEORGE during the quiet of the COVID-19 pandemic. The name references the African American George Floyd, whose death at the hands of police in late May 2020 sparked the Black Lives Matter protests in the U.S. It also refers to the Greek word “Georgos,” meaning “earthworker.” While the first album, “Letters to George,” with its mix of futuristic electronica, vintage funk, synth-pop, and jazz fusion, was already a tribute to many Georges—George Floyd, George Clinton, George Washington Carver, George Sanders, and so on—its follow-up, “Looking for Consonance,” consistently continues down this path both aesthetically and musically.

Perhaps GEORGE’s music sounds even more techno-driven and electronic today than it did three years ago; perhaps the contrast between the focused tone of Anna Webber’s saxophone, the beeps and chirps of the various synthesizers played by Sarah Rossy and Chiquita Magic, and the groove-based immediacy of Hollenbeck’s drums has grown even greater. In any case, outside the musical context, consonance is evident above all in demarcation and in opposites.