Miami's Kodiak Fur Prepares to Release Its First Album

“Electronic. Booty. Makes you feel a type of way.” That's how Miami's new four-piece electronic band Kodiak Fur describes its sound. Born in the recording studio almost by accident, Kodiak Fur is certainly among the more charismatic acts hanging around the Miami music scene these days.

When Steven Sanz and Christopher Thomas came together to produce an acoustic album for Miami artist Albert Vargas, their efforts helped to move the album out of the acoustic realm and into a more electronic place. From there, they started experimenting with new sounds and elements until a new idea emerged among the three: Kodiak Fur. “We did one song called ‘Dice’ and we were like, ‘Oh shit, we should do this,’” Thomas remembers. “Steve and I used to produce years ago,” he explains. “And then we met Albert and Zeus [Muñoz] and it just kind of evolved from there.”

Armed to the teeth with a plethora of slick influences, the band says it models its songwriting off of groups like Toro Y Moi, Duran Duran, and even the city of Miami.

Still in its fledgling stages, Kodiak Fur is embracing experimentation on stage. “Our live set is just something that changes, and it’s going to change again massively,"  Thomas says. "We’ve got electronic and live elements, and we each switch on and off with a bunch of instruments.”

Having live instruments was important to Kodiak Fur, as Vargas explains. “It’s like you go to a DJ show and there’s no energy coming through the speakers, but when a band plays you can feel that energy pumping out into the crowd, and that’s what a live show is all about.” 


Though Kodiak Fur's aspirations are to eventually tour outside of Miami, its priority now is to finish the band's first album, which will hopefully be released at the end of September. The group had to pump the brakes on its initial impulse to just start recording like crazy, and instead opt for a more measured and strategic approach. 

 “We were initially just going to flood the internet with music," Thomas says. "Then I guess just for press and marketing reasons we decided let’s drop one record now, and a few songs at a time leading up to the album. We’re perfectionists so it’s like we sit on music for a long time and try to make it the best it can be before we release it."

Asked what their spirit animal might be, the band nods in agreement that Kodiak Fur would, in fact, be a Bear. Though it's fair to say at this point — without an album to their name or even press photos — Kodiak Fur is more of a cub than a full-grown grizzly. But that's fine — there's still a lot of time to grow. And if they're going to make it in the unforgiving climate of the Miami music, Kodiak Fur better start fattening up.