The Ascetic Junkies

The Ascetic Junkies are a pop band with more than a passing interest in Americana, noise, and psychedelic song structure quirks. Comprised of Kali Giaritta and Matt Harmon (and various other musicians through the years), we tend to surprise audiences with how much sound, energy and intricacy we create with only two people. The band has its roots in a merging of rock and folk, but after self-releasing an album in 2008, we started indulging in the pop/Americana/indie realm. Since then, we've tried our best to constantly evolve our sonic palette without losing the core focus of our sound, which has been made easier by the distinct sound of our dual-lead-vocal center and shape-shifting, psychedelic songwriting ethic; lately, we have a fondness for writing songs in a more through-composed fashion than a standard verse-chorus-repeat style. We have been fortunate enough to gather recent fond comparisons within the pop world as diverse as The New Pornographers, The Dodos, The Dirty Projectors, and Apollo Sunshine.

Through the last 4 years, we've self-released 2 albums and seen a 3rd released on Portland indie label Timber Carnival Records, toured all over the country, and had the pleasure of sharing the stage with such national acts as Nicole Atkins, Warpaint, Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside, and Asobi Seksu. We've also received several honors on our home turf (Portland, OR), including having tracks featured on the prestigious PDX Pop Now! compilation and Tender Loving Empire's "Friends and Friends of Friends Vol. 4", and having a self-produced music video highlighted and screened at NW Film Fest.

2012 found us touring more than ever, recording a lot of new electrified material that intentionally sits on the border between "really catchy" and "pretty weird", and taking in the sights while driving back and forth across the country to bring our tunes to fans in towns big and small. We are planning on staying out on the road as much as possible in 2013, and releasing a collection of new songs that we're very proud of.