The Sufis Double Exposure

The Sufis are an Anglo-Indian/American band based on the wri:ng partnership of Calvin Laporte and Evan Smith. During a chance mee:ng at Belmont University in Nashville, TN they bonded over a shared love of the Elephant 6 Collec:ve and 20th-century classical music.
AKer spending their forma:ve years obsessively consuming and studying many different kinds of music, they set out to create their own musical universe. Under the guidance of Nashville tape wizard Randy Blevins, they built their dream recording studio in 2011. Not was:ng any :me, they set out recording their debut album enlis:ng the help of their friends, including local wunderkinds the Paperhead. These recordings quickly caught the aSen:on of Ben and Tjinder of Cornershop who released the album on their label, Ample Play, in the summer of 2012.
Upon release The Sufis was named Rough Trade Album of the Month and also received high praise from the likes of The Times, Shindig!, Record Collector, and Rolling Stone's David Fricke who called it 'an extended reach into the droning minimalism of the Velvet Underground and Faust's tape manipula:on.' They quickly followed up with Inven,ons in 2013, an ambi:ous aSempt to consolidate their love of The Shaggs, Wesley Willis and Bach.
The next few years found The Sufis focusing more on produc:on and engineering du:es for Paperhead, Peter Stringer-Hye, Universal Friend, Paul Messis/The Market Squares and many others. Frustrated with the small town aesthe:c of Nashville, they spent :me traveling around, eventually seSling on Brooklyn, NY as their new home base.