February 8 & 9

Terminal 7

If there's an aligning theme to the varied catalog of Suzanne Kraft, it's that instrumental passages can be as lyrical as traditional songs. Perhaps it's down to the unfussed energy of his hometown, Los Angeles, that Kraft—real name Diego Herrera—has easily navigated through a prolific decade of solo records and collaborations encompassing dance tracks, various mutations of mannered pop and a myriad of downtempo & electroacoustic experiments.

After training in saxophone, guitar, bass, and keys during his teenage years, Herrera began bus pilgrimages to Los Angeles open-format radio institution Dublab, where he fell in with a coterie of music-obsessed freaks. He'd eventually become the station's creative director while developing wide-ranging DJ instincts over thousands of hours logged on-air.

In his early 20s Herrera established himself as one of LA's brightest new dance music talents, beginning to tour the states and Europe as a DJ, exhibiting an uncanny knack for unearthing idiosyncratic bangers and an admirable appetite for risk. In the quieter times, he'd begin on a series of diaristic solo albums for Melody As Truth, the Amsterdam-based label run by Herrera's close collaborator Johnny Nash. After participating in the Red Bull Music Academy and producing a landmark album of contemplative instrumentals and cinematic, low-tempo beats with 2015's Talk From Home, Herrera relocated to Amsterdam, where he'd split a studio space with Nash and begin a period of focused studio exploration in between DJ gigs.

All the while, Herrera's monthly radio show for Dublab.de displayed a renewed obsession with subtle songcraft, which paved the way for a new artistic breakthrough. His 2021 album of exquisite guitar songs, About You, extolled the virtues of home and the complex web of emotions surrounding new love. In his hands, these classic themes, and the mix of dream pop and shoegaze, felt novel, the album's blurry, giddy style a perfect complement to its themes of distant longing. In a natural next step, Suzanne Kraft made a welcome return to Los Angeles to write more songs and make more records, alone and with friends, suitable for consumption in either setting.

@suzannekraft