Americana / Indie pop/rock band Glitterfox from Portland, OR, lead by queer married couple Solange Igoa and Andrea Walker, were named one of Portland’s “Best New Bands” by the Willamette Week in 2022 and came away from Oregon Country Fair as one of the festival’s most buzzed about new groups.
Andrea Walker states,
“This is one of the most intensely personal songs I’ve ever written, so much so that its hard to share in a lot of depth and transparency about the subject. But I can say that I was going through one of the hardest times I’ve ever experienced, in my relationship and in my personal life. All dealing with substance issues, sobriety, and mental health challenges. I poured all those feelings into the song. But when I was working on the demo it came out with this dance vibe. Which is actually one of my favorite approaches in songwriting – take a sad song or subject but make it something you can dance to. Eventually through a lot of therapy and intense personal work, things started getting better. And the song ended up feeling like this anthem – that no matter what we’re experiencing, there is a way through it. It may be hard to see, or to believe in. But its there.”
GLITTERFOX BIO:
Change and perspective expand quickly in tight quarters—and no one knows that as well as married couple Solange Igoa and Andrea Walker. It’s true of each of their time as queer kids in need of an escape from conservative towns; of their years living together in a van, traveling the country to play music and busk; of settling down in a studio apartment just prior to the pandemic. And now, partnered with a rhythm section and produced by Chris Funk of the Decemberists, they’re harnessing the lessons from this closeness and cracking them wide open into a whole new world with their band Glitterfox.
The duo first met at a coffee house open mic in Long Beach, California, where Walker had recently relocated after growing up in North Carolina and Virginia. She quickly fell in love with Igoa’s voice, knowing that if their vocals and her guitar came together that would only flourish—and it did, the two now married and having spent more than a decade as a pair. Musically, channeling Walker’s Southern warmth through Southern California indie shine, Glitterfox carves out lithe, nostalgia-fueled anthems powered by the intimacy of their relationship.
“A lot of our songs are about serious challenges in our lives,” Walker says. “All the struggles in my life get poured into the music, but always with this silver lining of hope, this drive not to quit before the miracle happens. Making a living as an independent musician is hard, but we’ve always had each other and always made it work.”
Igoa and Walker quickly found new roots when they moved out of their van and settled down in Portland, Oregon, in 2018, quickly cementing a reputation for their boundless energy and positivity. Soon they were joined by Eric Stalker, a singer-songwriter who got along with the couple so well that he volunteered to learn bass as a way to join their band. Drummer Blaine Heinonen followed, the quartet now capable of producing grander leaps of musical gravity to crash through the couple’s golden-hued compositions.
The group’s soaring intimacy quickly won over Pacific Northwest fans and heroes in addition to Funk, with Kill Rock Stars label head Slim Moon who jumped at the opportunity to sign them. Despite that rapid growth, the beating heart of Glitterfox will always be Walker and Igoa’s love. “Having a band that’s built around a healthy marriage is cool because it has longevity. We’re a very stable unit and we’re a family,” Walker says.
“We’ve learned how to trust each other’s instincts. When Solange and I play together, it’s so second nature—their voice and my guitar are so intimately bound.”
