Scotland's Appendix Out makes music for dreams. Their fragile, ethereal songs evoke buried memories, lost loves, and unarticulated desires. Quietly, gently, persuasively, these songs will creep into your heart and start gnawing away, devastating you with their simple beauty and understatement.
Singer/guitarist Ali Roberts and bassist/violinist Dave E. formed Appendix Out in 1994 and recorded several songs at home on a four-track. They passed a demo tape to Will Oldham at a Palace Brothers show, and Oldham liked what he heard well enough to release a seven-inch ("Ice Age" b/w "Pissed with You") on his Palace Records label in 1996. This association has garnered many comparisons between Appendix Out and Palace Brothers, and indeed, both share almost-painful raw emotions and an exquisite delicateness. Roberts's plaintive vocals and the group's damaged-folk sound will appeal to fans of Oldham's work.
The last name-wary Appendix Out later added cellist Louise D., drummer Eva Peck, guitarist/percussionist Gareth Eggie, and flutist/keyboardist Tom C. to round out Roberts and Dave E.'s spare compositions. In addition to two full-lengths -- 1997's The Rye Bears a Poison and 1999's Daylight Saving, both on Drag City -- Appendix Out has released numerous seven-inch singles, both alone and with artists like Songs: Ohia. In 1997, Drag City released Appendix Out's debut album, The Rye Bears a Poison, which garnered near-universal acclaim. The two featured songs -- the somber, melancholy "Ein Grauerstar In Der Kavallerie" and the haunting, beautiful instrumental "And Den Nachtimmel Gewohnt" -- are from the seven-inch Lieder Fur Kaspar Hauser, released on Western Vinyl in 2000. Two songs for lost innocence, two songs for the party of one.
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