NYC high school friends Matte Namer (she/they) and Frankie Rex (he/they) began The FMs in 2016, forging a close bond through their respective journeys coming out as transgender and shared love of synthesizers. The next six years saw The FMs create an entire community around their illegal SVBVERT shows on a ferry boat in the industrial canals of Bushwick, Brooklyn where they also recorded and self-produced three full-length LPs. Their debut LP Machinacene Epoch (2017) irreverently coupled ‘90s psychedelic-industrial grunge with dance pop, earning The FMs the title of “New York’s outré band of sonic seditionaries” from BlackBook Magazine. Machianacene Epoch cemented The FMs’ commitment to a traditional approach to the creation of albums, demonstrating their philosophy that each release should have its own identity and be a standalone sonic statement. The duo’s music evolved in a softer, more personal direction for the birth of their sophomore double-LP PINK + BLACK. Between 2017 and 2020, Namer clocked a whopping 2,000 hours in her underwater studio recording, producing, and tinkering with analog synths. The result was a shimmering sonic odyssey, nodding to early synth pioneers like Brian Eno, Kraftwerk, and Gary Numan, all firmly grounded by the aching influence of lyric-forward 90s rock bands like Nirvana. Before The FMs could celebrate the release of PINK + BLACK, Rex passed away from a fentanyl overdose in 2022. This devastating loss put a years-long pause on the project, but even death ultimately could not stop Frankie’s voice from being heard. Two years later Namer told NY Daily News, “From almost the moment they passed on, I knew this was my responsibility - I had to make sure that this work that they had done, that the world got to hear it and see it.” PINK + BLACK was released posthumously in 2024 and received recognition in multiple major publications including NY Daily News, MetroWeekly, GLAAD, Mundane Magazine, and New Noise Magazine. In anticipation of this new chapter, Namer reformed The FMs in Ithaca, NY with trans musicians Bubba Crumrine (guitars), Basim Hussain (synths, keys) and Nick Scollard (drums). The FMs are back with a new ferocity, recording and performing all-new material inspired by lo-fi dream pop, classic disco, new wave and post-punk. As Metal Epidemic lauds in their glowing review of PINK + BLACK, “the spirit of punk music lives on a little longer.”