Sen K features Eric Nielsen (High Mountain Tempel, Maquiladora) and his wife Krista Bentley aka Krista Kansas (once from a Lawrence, Kansas band called Showertrick). The origin of the project dates back to Nielsen crashing his Harley Davidson, suffering injuries that threatened to derail his music career.
"I [had] created a collection that includes seven full lengths and an EP as Maquiladora along with two collaboration albums (one with Tenniscoats and the other with Makoto Kawabata), five records as space psychedelic seekers High Mountain Tempel as well as a collaboration with Earthling Society, four albums as avant improv noise makers Buzz of Howl plus a collaboration with Astro, and a Beggars double album with Glenn Donaldson. I traveled the world in multiple tours through Japan, Europe and the US, managed Lotushouse Records as well as Blogsandiego, an editorial, online music zine."
"Over the next few years, doctors finessed my spine, wrist and hip bones all back into place. Four surgeries and months of PT, I relearned to walk and, finally, to play guitar again. My musical partners had floated away, flitting by as electronic ghosts on screens and flickering, fading and fleeting film scenes in the mountains. I felt the love lost in my body. I had some months of Sheltering Sky opioid phantoms to reflect on an ending, and I began to feverishly plan."
Nielsen had met his future wife Krista during the 1990s, when she was in the band Chinchilla recording with Revolution Records and touring with Jawbreaker and Fluf. "I was in Loraine. We painted, exhibited and sold art, raised kids, ran a business, though we could not play music together. It wasn’t until I was broken down and trying to rebuild a musical language that we attempted songs. We were pent up at home along with everyone else when soon the songs, words and images started revealing themselves and we began to understand their meaning together. After nearly 25 years of sharing daily life, we were playing and writing music together."
Their first group of songs came together with Judd Feiler on drums. "He and I made our first albums and toured together as Loraine in the early 90s. During the pandemic, as a 3-piece, we played for a year with Judd in his front yard, and then another 18 months indoors where a sound emerged." When Feiler was unavailable to record the debut Sen K album, Nielsen reconnected with Morgan Doctor, Chinchilla’s drummer and an occasional guest on Maquiladora records.
The debut Sen K album Allele (Nielsen's first new first record since 2015) was recorded at Singing Serpent with Ben Moore.