The Moths' home turf is New York City, where they chew up venues from the Lower East Side to Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The group's muscular, melodic guitar attack and oddball vocals recall the dynamics of New York City ancestors Television and latter-day guitar heroes such as Dinosaur Jr. and the Pixies. Comparison only gets you so far with this band, however, for they are strikingly original, moving from ear-pleasing pop to countrified twang to nervy punk in one fell swoop. The Moths came together in 1994, playing consistently on their home ground and up and down the Eastern seaboard. In 2000, the group headed into a garage studio in Garfield, NJ, to work on their sophomore and most fully realized effort, Lepid Opera (a play on the word "lepidoptera," the insect family of butterflies and moths). Lower East Side label LunaSea Records released the album in January of 2001. ~ Erik Hage