вЂњThat was a moment where I created close to what I wanted to, right then and there.вЂќ All the bands they were in before it acted as a natural progression to enter the indie rock realm. To most college musicians, Crumb would be an experimental outlet, but for them, Crumb is the most rock-driven band theyвЂ™ve ever been in.

While only two of them technically studied Music (Brotter and Aronow) while the others majored in Computer Science (Ramani and Gilad), the four cross-pollinated in an assortment of funk, soul, hip-hop, and jazz outfits there, despite Tufts not being known as a particularly music-heavy college. The quartet-Ramani, Brotter, keyboardist-saxophonist Brian Aronow, and drummer Jonathan Gilad-met five years ago while studying at Tufts University in Boston. The New York-via-Boston band melds вЂ60s psych, loose jazz, and freeform indie rock into a soothing pop amalgamation, and with just two EPs to their name, 2016вЂ™s self-titled and Locket, self-released on June 23rd, the combination sounds undeniably original. Perhaps their unusual formation explains their equally unexpected sound. вЂњHonestly, we started playing out of a love for her songs, but then it morphed into this creative process that turned into being a band.вЂќ вЂњLila had these tracks that she was willingly un-protective of and let us, as a group, open them up,вЂќ bassist Jesse Brotter says over the phone. It wasnвЂ™t an overlap in musical interests that brought the four together, but rather a desire to explore the dilation of singer/guitarist Lila RamaniвЂ™s completed songs. In a strange way, Crumb, the jazzy psych pop four-piece quickly making a name for themselves, defy that path in the most natural of ways. ItвЂ™s call and response for a pre-determined plan. Usually, a band forms when a core songwriter seeks others to fill in their sound.

Crumb locket