Lunchbox

Taking inspiration from across the decades -- 60's mod and '70s AM pop, C-86 bands, <a href="spotify:artist:66U6cJ3kDBat0jS42Jkp9q">the Jam</a>, TV themes, and more, the homespun indie pop of Lunchbox is the creation of guitarist/vocalist Tim Brown and bassist/vocalist Donna McKean. Making home recordings in the California Bay Area beginning with a 1995 eponymous cassette, they put out three more albums before going on hiatus after 2002's more experimental Evolver. They re-emerged 12 years later with the snappy bubblegum mod Lunchbox Loves You, then followed it with albums that honed that template, especially 2024's Pop and Circumstance, which added vintage soul, Northern and otherwise, to the equation.

Formed in Berkeley in 1994, Lunchbox consisted of Brown, McKean, and a revolving door of drummers from their earliest days. They issued their debut cassette, 1995's Lunchbox, on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Camera+Obscura%22">Camera Obscura</a> before a revised CD version appeared on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Not+Happy+Records%22">Not Happy Records</a> the following year. The group made their <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Magic+Marker+Records%22">Magic Marker Records</a> debut with The Magic of Sound in 1999. It featured backup singer Shannon Handy, <a href="spotify:artist:1zdpBOS3ysIdAuiBSJ0v8p">Actionslacks</a>' Marty Kelly, and Brown sharing drums duty. <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22555+Recordings%22">555 Recordings</a> put out the seven-track Summer's Over in 2001, with the EP Glow Like There's No Tomorrow following on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Magic+Marker%22">Magic Marker</a> the same year. 2002's Evolver, was issued on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Magic+Marker%22">Magic Marker</a> as well and saw the band deconstructing their brand of indie pop to include dub and space rock influences. It featured contributions from <a href="spotify:artist:6a5w4wOqUEzhA7zZKK8Wiq">Boyracer</a>'s Stewart Anderson, trumpeter Jeremy Goody, strings player Amr Toppozada, and drummers <a href="spotify:artist:50O444Czru1La3BQqrlTtS">Geoff Soule</a> and Mario Hernandez, most of whom (except Anderson) appeared on the previous EP.

Lunchbox signed with Portland's <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Jigsaw+Records%22">Jigsaw Records</a> for their return in 2014 with the tight and bouncy, bubblegum-influenced Lunchbox Loves You. The similarly minded EP Smash Hits followed on the same label in 2015. After moving to <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Slumberland%22">Slumberland</a> and adding keyboardist Evelyn Davis, they released the more '60s pop-inspired After School Special in 2020. Also along for the ride were long-time contributor Goody and <a href="spotify:artist:15qL2oIvXdTLPUiZZypsvi">Ladybug Transistor</a>'s <a href="spotify:artist:6MlTymM1WKxJTCo85ndjDn">Gary Olson</a>. The band continued to record at home, both for themselves and other bands. McKean's group <a href="spotify:artist:6cdw60BgFT3FbZgBhmwr54">Artsick</a> recorded 2022's album Fingers Crossed there with Brown at the controls. Lunchbox continued their exploration of sounds of the past on their seventh record Pop and Circumstance, a vibrant, soul music and mod pop-heavy record that featured new drummer Maggie Aytac on a couple of songs and keyboardist Patrick Main, as well as Goody on trumpet throughout. It was released by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Slumberland%22">Slumberland</a> in May of 2024, by which time Kiki Pettiford had joined on second guitar and keyboards. ~ Marcy Donelson & Tim Sendra, Rovi