Jeremy Enigk

Jeremy Enigk first emerged as the frontman of the highly touted Seattle band Sunny Day Real Estate, which issued their Sub Pop debut, Diary, in 1994. In the midst of recording the group's sophomore effort, Enigk underwent a radical spiritual transformation and left the group; although he later returned to complete LP2, Sunny Day Real Estate nonetheless dissolved, leaving bassist Nate Mendel and drummer William Goldsmith to join Dave Grohl in the Foo Fighters. Initially, Enigk retired from the music industry, but he soon picked up his guitar and began writing new songs, and his solo debut, The Return of the Frog Queen, a collection bypassing the primal furor of Sunny Day Real Estate's emocore for a lush, orchestral pop sound, appeared in 1996. His days as a lead singer were not over, however, and the next year the band, minus Mendel, reunited and released How It Feel to Be Something On in 1998, followed by The Rising Tide in 2000. Unfortunately, due to label problems, the record, which would turn out to be the group's last, was never promoted well, and in June 2001 Sunny Day Real Estate officially split up. Just a few months later, however, Enigk came back together with Goldsmith and Mendel to form the Fire Theft, which issued a self-titled album in 2003. Finally, ten years after The Return of the Frog Queen had hit shelves, Enigk released his second solo record, World Waits, this time taking a much more mainstream rock approach to his songs. In August 2007, less than 12 months since his last full-length came out, Enigk issued a short album (with four new tracks and five live in-studio performances of songs off World Waits), Missing Link.