Essential Machine is RJ and Karen Dietrich.​ In 2007, they moved from Florida to the Pittsburgh, PA area, and the change of locale inspired the duo to start making music together professionally (they'd been harmonizing, literally and metaphorically, since they married in 2001). In the living room of a tiny apartment, Essential Machine wrote and recorded their first EP, Find the Harmony. It was released in June 2009, and they had more fun than should be allowed by law while touring the south in support of the record. ​RJ Dietrich spent his childhood in the woods of Florida studying classical piano. At the age of 13 he picked up a guitar and began writing songs, playing in several bands around Naples and eventually Tampa. A transplant to the hills of Pennsylvania, he owns and operates Blue Sofa Studios, where he is currently recording several debut EPs for emerging artists.​ ​In addition to being in Essential Machine, Karen Dietrich is a poet and writer. Her writing has appeared in several national journals, in addition to a chapbook, Anchor Glass, published in 2011. For more information, please visit karendietrich.net.​ ​​​​Essential Machine has just released their second EP Lonely Telephone, written and recorded in a different living room and they're hitting the road again to share music with friends, old and new. <a href="https://www.last.fm/music/Essential+Machine">Read more on Last.fm</a>. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.