KUTX’s October Artist of the Month cut their teeth in Denton’s storied, if often overlooked, music scene while several members were still students at the University of North Texas.
In 2020, longtime friends and collaborators Boone Patrello, Grahm Robinson, Madeline Dowd and Jordan Garrett officially joined forces to form Teethe after years of sharing stages around North Texas’ vibrant DIY circuit. That same year, the quartet released a gorgeous self-titled debut album that bucked the trend of overlooked pandemic-era releases, racking up millions of streams and earning the band a reputation for poignant lyrics and spare, haunting compositions.
Now, four years on and a move to Austin under their belts, Teethe has released a new album, Magic of the Sale. This latest release ramps up the emotional intensity and production values to create even more nuanced sonic landscapes. Imagine Elliot Smith backed by the atmospheric arrangements of the Texas instrumental outfit Balmorhea for an idea of the gut punch on tap.
It’s a recipe for continued relistens, each revealing subtle new variations in the band’s rich, if restrained, textures.
Teethe set out on a tour this fall, taking them throughout Western Europe and the UK, but you can catch the band performing songs from "Magic Of The Sale" in Austin on Friday, Oct. 17, at 29th Street Ballroom.
This Q&A has been lightly edited.
Are you all originally from North Texas? How did you first meet?
Boone Patrello: I was born in Dallas and have always been in the area. I met Maddie while attending freshman orientation at the University of North Texas. We had previously seen each other around, but didn’t really meet until then. I met Grahm at another house show, but we got to know each other more once Maddie and her roommates started running their own house venue that Grahm would come to. Once we all started playing together, we would occasionally drive down to Austin to play shows. After one of those shows, we met Jordan, who was friends with some of our friends.
Jordan Garrett: I grew up and lived in South Austin until I left for school at UNT. That’s where we forged all of these mutual connections that eventually led to the band meeting.
Grahm Robinson: I also grew up in Dallas. Boone and I did a tour together in 2018, and we’ve been touring and playing together in various projects since then.
Madeline Dowd: I grew up in Georgia but moved to Texas halfway through high school. Then I went to UNT and eventually met everyone.
For those unfamiliar with Denton’s music scene, what makes it so special?
Boone: It relies heavily on a DIY approach, which is a good way to learn how to operate with music. We would drive down to Dallas sometimes to open for bigger touring bands in Deep Ellum and occasionally play proper venues in town, but most of the shows I played or went to in Denton were in people’s houses.
Maddie: Getting to go to house shows and experience it all for the first time was really special. I think Denton made making music and meeting other people in bands so natural and accessible. Everyone was just down to hang, make music, go to a show and be a part of it all.
Jordan: I feel like it was a pretty accepting environment that made it relatively easy for young artists and musicians to figure out their craft. There were lots of opportunities to perform, and I think the variety of genres on local bills made for some interesting shows.
Coming from a place with such deep musical history, did you look to any North Texas artists for inspiration on Magic of the Sale? I’m thinking of atmospheric indie bands like Midlake.
Boone: Bedhead is from Dallas and they’re definitely an influence. Bowling for Soup is from Denton and they were one of my favorite bands in elementary school.
Jordan: There are definitely some acts that were inspirational from the area, like Teenage Cool Kids, but I’d say Magic doesn’t exist exclusively in the North Texas music canon. Half the band was spread out across Texas, so I think we draw inspiration from many different corners of our state and beyond.
From the pacing of the songs to the slowly unfolding orchestration, the new album evokes the endless horizons and dramatic rainstorms that define Texas. How does your sense of place — as Texans, as North Texans —inform your music?
Boone: There is less of a sense of urgency here. Maybe it’s the heat that exhausts everyone in some way.
Jordan: I like that interpretation, and I think it’s interesting how other people hear our music. Texas certainly informs our music, but I don’t think there’s ever a conscious decision to make something that sounds “Texan” — that just happens to be where we’re from.
The lyrics on this record are incredibly poetic and often feel deeply personal. What does the songwriting process look like for Teethe? Do you sit down together to write, or does it happen more organically over time?
Boone: We write lyrics separately. I don’t usually write a song intending to talk about anything specific. I usually just sit with the music for a while and slowly put together words that sound interesting or excite some emotion in me, then follow that until some kind of scene or idea unfolds. There are some songs where I wrote lyrics in response to Grahm's or Maddie’s lyrics. That was a bit different because I wanted to build on the ideas already present in their lyrics. It was interesting to expand on a theme or idea that wasn’t originally my own.
Jordan: From a lyrical and compositional standpoint, we all write mostly independently and in solitude. The way it all comes together and starts to take the shape of an album is a different process (call it magic). There are some commonalities we share that help things stay unified and luckily our writing styles complement one another, which allows us to create something uniquely independent from our solo efforts.
The album artwork for Magic of the Sale was painted by Madeline. Can you tell us a little about the image and what the figure signifies? It gives off some sinister medieval vibes, almost like a character from a Hieronymus Bosch painting.
Maddie: Yeah, the character is based off of a jester character so definitely some medieval vibes. I wanted to create a different iteration of the character seen from the first album cover but a more zoomed out version with more of a setting. I would say this cover is more of a representation of the world of Teethe, giving the viewer more to look at, more insight. Feels like it represents the album in the same way, giving the listener a broader range of sounds. The track "Anywhere" feels like a good depiction of that sort of transportation to this world.
It’s been four years since your self-titled debut. What are some of the biggest changes you’ve seen in the band since then? It sounds like audio production and recording have become more of a shared interest.
Boone: We are actually intentional about being a band now, whereas the first album was initially meant to be a one-off side project consisting of songs that didn’t quite fit into our preexisting projects. This project has slowly unraveled itself over the last five years and we’ve mostly just been along for the ride, but I think the new album serves as a statement of who and what we are as songwriters and a band now.
Jordan: I think that interest was always there, we just had time to develop those skills a bit more. The self-titled was defined as “lo-fi,” which is a label descriptor I think we were trying to get away from. I’m very proud of our new album’s production value, especially given that it was all self-recorded and produced.
Can you share some songs that helped inspire Magic of the Sale?
Boone: "Jim Cain" by Bill Callahan and "Kakashi" by Yasuaki Shimizu.
Jordan: "Unfinished" by Bedhead and "Shobud" by Acetone.
Grahm: "Sad and Beautiful World" by Sparklehorse
Maddie: "Oh!" by the Breeders
What’s next for Teethe? Anything else we should know about?
Boone: We are about to play three shows in Texas, going to Europe in November, and then doing an East Coast tour in December.
Jordan: Sky’s the limit. Very excited to finish out our tour schedule for this year and to line up some things for 2026.
