This Windy City outfit--composed of buddies Bobby Gallivan (guitar/vocals), Dan Radzicki (bass), Dan Fleury (guitar), and Evan Sult (drums) (vocalist Janie Porsche is also a regular contributor)--is part of Chicago’s prolific Flameshovel Records family, along with artists like Make Believe and The Narrator. While their first album, APPRECIATION NIGHT, didn’t arrive until 2006, it wasn’t long before they were playing South By Southwest and the CMJ Marathon and sharing bills with contemporaries like Oxford Collapse. After a heavy bout of touring, the group immediately re-gathered to record 2008’s A FAMILY AFLOAT, which is even more dense with buoyant melodies and guy-girl vocal exchanges between the Conor Oberst-esque Gallivan and sweet-sounding Porsche than its well-received predecessor.