Sydney Koke and Jen Twynn Payne met in their hometown of Calgary, Alberta in 2007. After becoming housemates, Twynn Payne began learning to play drums with then-boyfriend Patrick Flegel. Koke was impressed with her abilities and suggested they start a band, which became Puberty, a post-punk group with guitarist Nicole Brunel. Puberty disbanded when Koke enrolled in a neurosciencePhD program at Duke University. Twynn Payne moved to Vancouver shortly after to play drums in Makeout Videotape. Twynn Payne and Loove met and formed a synth-pop duo called Girls in Love, which quickly disbanded. Koke dropped out of Duke and moved to Vancouver to start a new band with Twynn Payne, who suggested they enlist Loove as the guitarist. The three jammed together for a summer before Loove moved to Montreal for a new job. After she returned eight months later, they became more serious, playing their first official show in 2011 as The Courtneys at Pat’s Pub for a friend's birthday party. The band's name is both an homage to Loove as well as a clique of "cool girls" at Koke's elementary school. Their eponymous first album, The Courtneys, was intended to be a four-song EP. They ran ahead of schedule and recorded more material, and completed recording, mixing, and mastering within three days. It was released by Hockey Dad Records, and was quickly sold out of its initial pressing. Their second album, The Courtneys II, developed over the next three years as the band refined their songcraft, revising and refining songs as they explored "what makes an ideal structure of a song." Their experimentation also affected the sound of the record; they auditioned six different mix engineers for the record, and instructed their mastering engineer to make it sound "like Teenage Fanclub on Bandwagonesque." The album garnered acclaim for its sound; Rolling Stone editor Rob Sheffield named it one of his top albums of 2017.
Style
Musical style
The Courtneys describe their style as "slacker pop" and "artisanal grunge;" critics have categorized them as jangle-pop, garage pop, and surf rock. They are most commonly associated with the Dunedin sound, particularly Flying Nun artists such as The Clean; they became the first non-New Zealand band to sign with the label after thirty-five years. They cite Eddy Current Suppression Ring, Pavement, Dinosaur Jr., and Fugazi as inspirations, with Teenage Fanclub, Big Star, and Phoenix cited as particular influences on II. Shoegaze has also been cited as an influence, largely due to Courtney Loove's unique open tuning. Lyrically, the band has been noted for their pop culture references. These include actors, movies and television shows, and other musicians. The Courtneys II marked a change from the referential to the more personal; it's claimed to be "75% about crushes."
Visual style
Much like their songs, their videos are often referential. Their video for "90210" is an homage to Eddy Current Suppression Ring's "Which Way to Go," while "Silver Velvet" is a remake of Bailter Space's "Splat." The band also takes a distinctive approach to marketing and merchandise. Their logo was developed for their recbaseball team, whose baseball cap is visible on the cover of their first album. They have released other unique merchandise, including an air freshener.
