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Formed in 2006 by founders Rob Lowe and Michael Muller, Balmorhea play textural post-rock with a classical influence. Joined by a revolving cast of additional musicians, the Austin, Texas-based group utilize plaintive strings as well as a host of other instruments to create a delicately layered and pastoral sound, sometimes reminiscent of a more rustic version of post-classical indie ensembles like Stars of the Lid and Rachel's. Their albums include full-bodied ensemble works like 2009's acclaimed All Is Wild, All Is Silent, as well as more stripped-down efforts including 2021's The Wind.

Balmorhea's eponymous debut, recorded with only Lowe and Muller, was self-released in 2007. The group subsequently signed to Western Vinyl, which released Rivers Arms in 2008. On this album, the duo was joined by violinist Aisha Burns (who would become a mainstay of the group) as well as cellist Erin Lance and guitarist/bassist Jacob Glenn-Levin. All Is Wild, All Is Silent followed in 2009, with Lowe, Muller, and Burns joined by bassist Travis Chapman, vocalist Jesy Fortino, cellist Nicole Kern, and drummer Taylor Tehan. All Is Wild, All Is Silent: Remixes was released later in the year.

After extensive touring in the United States and Europe, the band found time to get back into the studio, and issued Constellations the following year, retaining most of the previous album's lineup. Live at Sint-Elisabethkerk appeared in 2011, and Balmorhea's fifth studio album, the eclectic Stranger, was released in 2012. For this album, cellist Dylan Rieck replaced Kern, and Kendall Clark played drums and percussion. In 2014, Western Vinyl re-released Balmorhea's self-titled debut, and a 7" titled Heir was also issued. Sixth album Clear Language appeared in 2017, recorded primarily by Lowe and Muller, along with Burns. The group's six-person lineup toured in support of the album. Clear Language: Reworked and non-album singles "Chime"/"Shone" and "The Most Fleeting" were all released in 2018. Partially returning to some of the group's roots, 2021 full-length The Wind featured both Lowe and Muller on piano, with additional contributors including horn player Morris Kliphuis, cellist Clarice Jensen, and singer Lisa Morgenstern. The album was Balmorhea's first for Deutsche Grammophon. ~ Gregory Heaney & Paul Simpson

Aisha Burns is a singer/songwriter and violinist known as a member of post-rock outfit Balmorhea as well as for her own plaintive, guitar-based indie folk. She began recording with artists spanning Alex Dupree, Sunset, and Adam Torres as early as 2006, and made her solo debut with Life in the Midwater in 2013.

A native of San Antonio, Texas, Burns began studying the violin when she was ten years old. In 2005, at the age of 18, she relocated to Austin with the intention to study music at the University of Texas but ended up pursing a journalism major instead. Regardless, she landed a regular gig playing violin with Alex Dupree and the Trapdoor Band after a classmate who knew they were looking for violinist overheard her say she played. She joined founders/multi-instrumentalists Rob Lowe and Michael Muller in the classical-influenced Balmorhea as violinist in 2007. The group recorded four studio albums over the next five years before Burns released her solo debut.

Featuring a gentle, mostly acoustic indie folk that relied on guitar as her main instrument, Life in the Midwater was released on Western Vinyl in 2013. Burns played violin on albums by Adam Torres and Thor & Friends, as well as for Alex Dupree leading up to the release of another Balmorhea LP, Clear Language, in 2017. In the meantime, she moved her base to Beverly, Massachusetts on the state's North Shore. Informed by grieving the loss of her mother, and featuring more expansive arrangements than her debut, her second solo LP, the self-produced Argonauta, followed on Western Vinyl in 2018. ~ Marcy Donelson

Clarice Jensen's mesmerizing avant-garde cello playing has seen her work with numerous artists, from Jóhann Jóhannsson and Max Richter through to Beck and Joanna Newsom. While also being the artistic director of the American Contemporary Music Ensemble, Jensen has found time to release her own work, most notably 2020's The experience of repetition as death and 2022's captivating Esthesis.

Based in New York, Jensen graduated from the performing-arts institute the Juilliard School after studying under the American cellists Harvey Shapiro and Joel Krosnick. Finding her own unique sound by processing her cello through guitar pedals and electronics, her shape-shifting style caught the ears of numerous artists. Lending her talents to the likes of Jónsi, Mono, and Dustin O'Halloran, amongst others, her work could be heard on countless recordings throughout the 2010s, but it wasn't until 2018 that Jensen made her own debut with the release of For This from That Will Be Filled on Berlin-based label Miasmah. The four-track release, which included a piece co-written with Jóhann Jóhannsson, brought Jensen's unique playing style to the fore, setting her apart from the burgeoning experimental drone and neo-classical scene. The EP Drone Studies appeared the following year before she inked a deal with Fat Cat Records offshoot 130701. Although recorded in 2018, Jensen's debut for the label, The experience of repetition as death, appeared in late 2019, with the deeply personal release -- written while her mother was dying from leukemia -- earning plaudits for its encompassing sound. Alongside her own work, Jensen still found time to score for movies such as 2020's Sin Señas Particulares and 2021's No Man of God, collaborate with Max Richter and Balmorhea, and serve as artistic director of the American Contemporary Music Ensemble. In late 2022, Jensen issued her third album, Esthesis. Inspired in part by the phenomena of chromesthesia -- in which sound involuntarily evokes an experience of color, movement, and shape -- the album saw Jensen adding synths, piano, and vocals to her already evocative mix of cello and electronics. ~ Rich Wilson