Poor Old Lu, Sunny Day Real Estate, and first solo projects (1993-2000)
Enigk was born in Seattle, Washington, to Gary E. Enigk and Sherry Hammond Enigk. In the late 1980s, Enigk was part of what would eventually become Poor Old Lu, sharing vocalist duties with Scott Hunter. He joined the group Sunny Day Real Estate, where he served as lead singer, co-songwriter, rhythm guitarist and keyboardist. The group released two albums in 1994–1995 and then broke up; during the band's first break-up, Enigk released the 1996 solo album, Return of the Frog Queen, and rejoined Poor Old Lu for a single track in 1996, singing alongside Scott on the band's Straight Six EP, on the track, "Digging Deep.". Enigk converted to Christianity in the mid-1990s. There was an aborted attempt to record a second Sub Pop album, a follow-up to Return of the Frog Queen as Enigk explains, "We started a 2nd solo record and actually recorded one song with Anita Perkins and some of the other string players. That was the first attempt that I ever had at completely writing all the music myself, without Mark Nichols who did 'Return of the Frog Queen' with me. But that was the only song. And then, shortly after that Sunny Day got back together, and all my songs that were meant to be for a solo record were moved to Sunny Day Real Estate. Some of the songs on How It Feels actually." In 1997, Sunny Day Real Estate returned, with the first line-up, when bassistNate Mendel left the band, Enigk moved to the bass, the band released two more studio albums, the last one without a contribution of Nate Mendel.
The Fire Theft and solo work (2001–present)
After Sunny Day Real Estate's second breakup in 2001, Enigk formed The Fire Theft, with former Sunny Day Real Estate members Goldsmith and Mendel. They released a self-titled album in 2003 and an EP in 2004 before breaking up. He appeared on the soundtrack for the 2003 film The United States of Leland. In 2006, he followed Frog Queen with another solo album, World Waits on his own label, Lewis Hollow Records. A song from the album, "Been Here Before," was included as an MP3 with Winamp. In June 2009, Sunny Day Real Estate reunited once again with the original line-up and toured the United States. But after some fruitless recording sessions, the band has been inactive for the time being. On February 9, 2015, he announced a US tour focusing mainly on East and West coast venues. It was later revealed in March 2015 that the tour was the first step towards raising the necessary funds for an upcoming new album. On March 28, 2015 he announced a crowdfunding campaign via the Pledgemusic website that was expected to also support the release of the upcoming new album.
Legacy
Sunny Day Real Estate, especially Enigk, are often cited as progenitors of today's emo music.
