Acrylics

Though their band, Standing Nudes, broke up in 2007, musicians and friends Jason Klauber and Molly Shea knew they wanted to continue making music together. The two — who'd known each other since their time at Oberlin College, where they met after a mutual friend played some of Shea's songs to Klauber and formed the first configuration of Standing Nudes — decided to take things in a different direction than what they'd previously done. Drawing inspiration from Fleetwood Mac, Gram Parsons, and Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, among others, and calling themselves Acrylics, the pair set out writing songs from this era of pop music. Their first recordings were made in Klauber's basement, also home to roommate Patrick Wimberly's (from Chairlift) studio. Eventually, three more members (Travis Rosenberg on drums, Jake Aron on bass, and Sam Ubl on drums) were added, and the five-piece band began playing shows on its Brooklyn home turf. At one of these shows (and their second ever), Grizzly Bear's Chris Taylor approached them and asked if they'd like to release music on his nascent label, Terrible Records. After producing their songs at Taylor's studios, Acrylics released the EP All of the Fire in October 2009, around the same time that they played a handful of well-publicized shows at New York's CMJ Festival. The pair worked on their debut album over the course of two years with producers Patrick Wimberly (Chairlift), Matt Boynton (Gang Gang Dance, MGMT), Britt Myers (Yeasayer, Chairlift), and mastering engineer Chris Gehringer (Rihanna, Drake, Nas). The result, Lives and Treasure, arrived in 2011.