November 20, 2007
From the home studio of a tiny two-bedroom apartment at 11th and Tennessee to local stages, Ample Branches has grown into one of Lawrence's brightest new bands during the course of a busy year. The group's 16-song debut "True Vine" merits an honorary degree from the academy of innovative home recording-it would be "lo-fi" if only if weren't so well produced. Fans of homespun indie bands like The Microphones, The Books and Animal Collective will dig the collection immediately, but its more populist touchstones-The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Sufjan Stevens-lend "True Vine" an across-the-universe appeal. The album skillfully employs multi-tracked guitars, kitchen-sink percussion and an array of junkyard organs-one of which the group nabbed from a Justin Roelofs yard sale (along with a sweet Atari)-to create absorbing headphone suites. Songwriter Kevin Lawrence (formerly of Larryville's Box Social) and guitarist/singer Andy Wagner visited our podcast studio to reveal the prophecy of the "True Vine."
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