Boston-based band Ruby Grove (2022- current) is an indie alternative musical project rooted in trip-hop and neo-soul grooves, informed by lofi hip-hop, electronica, rock, and world music. Ruby Grove’s core driving force is to soothe anxious hearts and minds during the post-pandemic era, create an alternatively funky, soulful, and mystical atmosphere, and aim for “the formation of new genres through multi-genre synthesis madness”. Lead singer and keyboardist Melissa Nilles brings an extensive musical background to Ruby Grove from years of fronting indie bands in New York, California, Japan, and Massachusetts (including Boston’s notable art/alternative rock project Miele). Nilles’s vocal style was described by the Boston Survival Guide as “travelling effortlessly through many moods…forceful and determined, melancholy and dreamy, exotic and magical”. Nilles recruited bassist and backup vocalist Cedric Lamour from previous mutual project Miele, and the two met drummer Sage Gibbons (Funky Toona).