JUNE SWOON: The rock and roll world of June Swoon is anthemic, deeply personal, and cinematic. Her songs feel instantly classic, with a voice that cuts through genre. June Swoon has toured nationally with her band and released two full-length albums that sold out on vinyl. She has opened for alt-country darlings Goldie Boutilier and Brennan Wedl as well as punk heavyweights Warmduscher (UK).
Sacramento native Juli Lydell founded June Swoon in Los Angeles in 2018 as a touring guitarist for Miserable. Her 2019 debut record is a mosaic of bedroom demos and borrowed studios, with digital orchestras and fuzzed out guitar swirling around a core of romantic fatigue. Her 2023 sophomore record is a study in post-punk and experimental folk, offering meditations on control, religious trauma, and the malaise of modern life. In January 2026, she self-released an EP along with five corresponding short films as a testament to “girl drivers,” the mid-century term for independent women operating heavy vehicles. The EP charted nationally for 8 weeks on Americana and college radio.
June Swoon and the Riders are touring California and the Pacific Northwest in Summer 2026.
JUNE SWOON
CAREER WOMAN: Melody Caudill’s songwriting hits my spot that’s so sweet that it might as well be sugar cane itself. Caudill is the main creative force behind Career Woman, an act that started as really just her before eventually being filled out to a four-piece band. Still, there’s no denying the individuality and dominance of her voice in the group’s material.
Caudill writes astutely about the happy, melancholy haze of teetering on the edge of adulthood: “I am standing on tippy toes/ I am singing songs in public/ I love everyone i know/ But if you ask me if I’m ready/ I’d say I don’t know.” This open pondering is set against a chiming, pristine indie rock tune that flows from an lilting guitar riff that sounds like a tangier version of the La’s. It reminds me of Jen Trynin, Rilo Kiley, boygenius, and just about every piquant, precise performer who won my heart with their wry honesty and straightforward tunefulness over the years. I can’t get enough of music like this.
Music | Career Woman
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