Cole Berggren’s stepping up to the mic in his debut solo release
The multi-instrumentalist plays supporting roles with both Kevin Morby and Waxahatchee. Now, the Philly-by-way-of-California musician is preparing to drop his first-ever solo record.
Cole Berggren | Photo by Noorann Matties, @noorannmatties
Waxahatchee and Kevin Morby are two standard bearers of the indie rock and alt-country scenes, both with strong ties to Philly. And anyone who’s seen them perform live recently may have noticed one musician who takes the stage with both acts.
Cole Berggren plays bass for Morby and keys and banjo for Waxahatchee. While Berggren—a California native who’s called Philly home for about a decade—finds himself on the wings of their stage setups at live dates, he’s getting ready to take the mic himself.
His first record as a solo artist, Desire, is due out Aug. 7. The first single, “On My Side,” dropped June 23, and the second single, “If You’re Lonely,” is out today.
The former Number One Lovers frontman and bassist in The Vernes said going solo was a bit of a journey.
”I’ve always played in bands,” Berggren said. ”The thought of expanding from that, I couldn’t think outside that box or something.”
Number One Lovers served as his songwriting project, but Berggren’s songs would come together with his band.
”I just couldn’t imagine doing it any other way,” he said. ”Even touring now with Kevin and touring with Katie [Crutchfield of Waxahatchee], it still feels like what I’ve been doing my whole life, which is just playing in someone’s band.”
Earlier this year, Berggren played at The Met with Waxahatchee and Union Transfer with Morby, as well as at WXPN’s NON-COMMvention with Morby.
”I don’t really get nervous about that at all anymore,” he said of playing larger venues.
Now, with Desire on the way and two tracks out, Berggren is at center stage as himself, which has led to mixed emotions for the seasoned musician.
”It just felt daunting or something to take all the weight of, like, if someone doesn’t like this, it’s just me,” he said. “It felt so exposed or something.”
A release show for Desire is scheduled for Aug. 14 at PhilaMOCA, with Golden Apples and Izzy True supporting.
”I know that when we get to do the show at Philomoca, when we’re about to go on, I’ll be like, ‘Oh no, oh no,'” he said. ”[Being a frontman is] a lot more pressure. I enjoy it, but it also makes me really not take for granted being in [a supporting] role. I know that some of that pressure is falling on somebody else.”
That’s not to say he’s not excited for his solo debut.
”Now it feels really spiritually good to me,” he said of taking center stage as a solo artist. ”This is the outlet for my songwriting; these are my ideas, and I have a bunch of friends and collaborators I worked on to bring it to life. But it’s kind of an extension of me.”
The album is an easy-going exploration of Berggren’s life, past, present, and future.
”It feels like broad strokes or kind of like general observations on me kind of watching my life go by and thinking about my place in the world,” he said. ”Some of [the songs] I feel like I’m still figuring out. I feel like I’ll write a song and have one idea for it and then listen to it a year or two later and be like, ‘Oh, you know, I feel like I’m getting this from it’ or something. I like that about songwriting.”
Aside from Berggren, the album features Fabián Mera and Matt Gragg on bass and guitar (both played in The Vernes with Berggren). Gragg also laid down drums on about half the songs, with Ian Staley—of defunct indie rock outfit Sixteen Jackies and current drummer for Rat Jester—drumming on the other half. Recording took place both in Philly and in Kingston, New York.
“We spent like a week [recording] in Kingston during this heatwave in 2024,” he said. “I remember at the end of the week being a little like, ‘Did we get anything good?’ When I got home and listened to it, that all ended up becoming the bulk of the record.”
The three went into the process with a rhythmic outline, and Berggren had lead guitar ideas swirling in his head.
Drums were tracked by Gragg at Echo Shack, and keys were tracked by Basko at Historic New Jersey.
”It feels like a record that was made between Philly and Kingston to me,” he said.
After Desire‘s release show at PhilaMOCA, Berggren and his band will head up to Kingston to play Tubby’s, then to Queens for a gig at Trans-Pecos.
After that, he will play the Iron Blossom festival with Morby before heading down to Australia, also with Morby.
Desire will be available to stream on all major platforms Aug. 7 and on cassette, which are available for pre-order online here and will be on sale at Berggren’s upcoming shows.