Half Gringa:

Over the course of her first two full-length releases as Half Gringa, Chicago-based singer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter Isabel Olive has demonstrated stunning emotional intelligence and songwriting elegance. Her 2025 full-length release, Cosmovisión, captures Olive at her most self-possessed, addressing “mythology, mortality, and everything in between.” Indeed, Half Gringa seems to revel in addressing what cannot be grasped or expressed so easily. She commonly switches between English and Spanish in her songs. It’s a tribute –– as is the band name –– to her upbringing by a Venezuelan mother and an American father in a Midwestern town. This record is distinctly Half Gringa because it is only Olive who stands in front of these particular ancestors, who wields this particular perspective and experience, this particular “cosmovisión.” The Chicago Reader named Half Gringa’s debut, Gruñona as among Chicago’s Best Albums of the Decade while VICE named her sophomore full-length, Force to Reckon as one of 22 Essential Albums of 2020.

Matt Gold:

Matt Gold is a guitarist and composer based in Chicago, IL. His work pulls from diverse traditions of electric and acoustic music. Matt has given his guitar a good strum or two in venues across North America, Europe, and Asia, and has written music for films as well. His work has been praised for being “accessible, yet healthily unconstrained by genre and sure of its own identity” (UK Vibe) and for "combining the virtuosity and precision of a string quartet with the playfulness of small-group jazz" (Chicago Reader). In May 2020 Gold released his first solo record, Imagined Sky (Whirlwind Recordings), displaying his penchant for concise melody and a nuanced, exploratory palette of abstracted Americana. He has released four albums as the instrumental duo Sun Speak (with drummer Nate Friedman) and one with the singer/songwriter duo Storm Jameson (with vocalist/guitarist Jim Tashjian). As a guitarist and collaborator, Matt performs and records with artists including Makaya McCraven, Greg Ward, Sara Serpa, Hood Smoke, and Jamila Woods. He co-curates the Flood Music concert series and record label.