Kleenex Girl Wonder

BIOGRAPHY

Kleenex Girl Wonder began in the Chicago suburbs before relocating to New York City, built around singer-songwriter Graham Smith (born July 14, 1979) as its sole constant member. The earliest lineup drew on neighborhood friends from Downers Grove, Illinois, including Adam Blake, Rafeeq Hasan, Quinn Goodwillie, Christian Goodwillie and Jeff Giba, while more recent recordings have featured Thayer McClanahan on guitar and Matt LeMay, later Adam Russin, on drums. Smith's catalog stretches from 1996's Sexual Harassment and 1997's Graham Smith Is the Coolest Person Alive through 1999's Ponyoak, often cited as an indierock classic, up to Accept the Mystery (2010), Secret Thinking (2011) and Vana Mundi (2018). Some later releases carry his own name alongside the band's.

WHY THEY'RE COOL

Smith has been compared to Guided by Voices' Robert Pollard as a prolific, D.I.Y. bedroom pop songwriter, churning out albums at a relentless pace since the mid-1990s. His writing is dense and clever, rarely repeating a chorus because there is simply too much to say, packing songs with wordplay, jokes, parody, and running references across his own catalog.

GEORGE'S PLAYS

First time on the station.

PLAYED ON WOKE1

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