Chapel

Chapel is the kind of duo that makes you wonder why anyone bothers with a full band. Carter Hardin handles vocals and guitar, Kortney Grinwis plays drums, and the two of them have been best friends and creative partners since 2016. They started out in Atlanta and have since planted themselves in Nashville, but the constant across every chapter has been that two-piece chemistry: bright, synth-forward indie pop with a knack for a hook that lodges itself in your head and refuses to leave.

You can hear that gift right away on the early material. "Fool's Gold" and "We've Got Soul" arrived in 2017, back when Chapel were a buzzy new signing on Rise Records with the Issues vocalist Tyler Carter in their corner, and both tracks bottled the sound that would define them: glossy, danceable, a little sassy, and emotionally honest under all the shine. Their debut EP, Sunday Brunch, dropped that November and played like a sugar rush, all youthful energy and grin-wide melodies. It announced a band that understood pop craft without ever sounding cynical about it.

What has made Chapel worth following is how they have kept evolving without losing that core. They name Cherub, Phoenix, and Grouplove among their touchstones, and you can trace those threads through their catalog: the funk-leaning groove, the festival-sized choruses, the willingness to be playful. By the time of Room Service in 2021, the duo had pulled the sound inward, trading some of the early exuberance for a more minimalist, late-night feel. It was a quieter record, but a confident one, the work of musicians figuring out exactly how much space their songs needed.

Then came a stretch away, and the version of Chapel that returned is arguably the most compelling one yet. Their 2025 EP Modern Nature was made completely independent, free of any label timeline, with producer Michael Guillot helping them chase ideas purely on instinct. The freedom shows. Songs like "Why Do U Hate Me?" and "Big Baby" are lyrically bold and wickedly catchy, the sound of a band that has nothing to prove and everything to play with. That DIY spirit, the choice to build it themselves on their own terms, is exactly the energy that makes the duo feel vital right now.

Across the catalog, the tracks people keep coming back to tell the story: "CRASHING OUT" and "UP ALL NIGHT" lean into the propulsive, keep-the-night-going side of the band, while "Don't You Love Me" shows the ache that lives underneath the gloss. It is a range that holds up live and on repeat, which is the whole point of pop done well.

The throughline is friendship. Ten years in, Chapel are still two people who clearly love making this together, and that warmth is audible in every chorus. They are a band built to last, and the best way to appreciate them is simple: turn it up, and let the hooks do their work.