Michael Nau

Michael Nau is the voice at the centre of Cotton Jones, an indie folk group from Cumberland, Maryland, whose sound folds psychedelic folk, dream pop and chamber pop into something loose and unhurried. Born on 31 October 1984, Nau writes the songs and sings them, with Whitney McGraw on keyboards, organ and electronic autoharp, Todd Gowans on guitar and Greg Bender on bass.

The group began as The Cotton Jones Basket Ride, and their first LP, The River Strumming, came out on 23 September 2008 through the indie label St. Ives, in a hand-made edition of only 300 copies. Suicide Squeeze reissued it in summer 2023 for its 15th anniversary, pressing 1000 copies on coloured and black vinyl. Paranoid Cocoon followed in January 2009 as their debut for Suicide Squeeze, and Tall Hours in the Glowstream arrived in August 2010. Nau's solo career began with Mowing in February 2016, after the single "Winter Beat" was previewed online. Some Twist followed in June 2017, and Accompany, his fifth solo album, came out in December 2023, which Glide Magazine called his best solo effort to date.