A linchpin of the Washington, DC music scene, Priests is a band and so much more. Not content to write, perform, and release their own music, the members of Priests started indie label Sister Polygon Records, home to many of DC’s up and coming artists. Stamped with the labels punk or post-punk, the band isn’t really interested in being pigeon-holed. These four musicians play music and write lyrics based on their interests and let listeners make up their own minds.
Singer Katie Alice Greer, guitarist Jaguar, bassist Taylor Mulitz, and drummer Daniele Daniele formed Priests in 2012. Creating Sister Polygon to release its first single, Priests followed up with several EPs as well as recordings by (playMYmusic.FM Two fer Tuesday artist) Snail Mail, Shady Hawkins, Downtown Boys and others.
In 2017 the group released its full-length debut Nothing Feels Natural. Though the recording was begun well before the election, it seems stunningly current. With titles like "Pink White House," "Leila 20," and the title track, critics have assumed the band is referring to the prevailing political quagmire, but Greer insists they have been on the case since the band’s inception. As Pitchfork noted in its review, “Priests’ insistence on mutable identity, and their disinterest in pinning down a 10-point plan to vanquish fascism, let them slip free of those who seek to gentrify, identify, commodify.” What ultimately matters, of course, is whether the music is good. Be assured. It is.
JJ