When Wars of 1812 took an extended hiatus in 2009, frontman Peter Pisano used the down time to start laying the brickwork for a new project. Keeping his day job as a private-school teacher, he dedicated his evenings to the composition of quirky, folksy pop songs. He also reached out to Brian Moen, a drummer and sound engineer whose previous groups included Amateur Love and Laarks. Together, the musicians formed Peter Wolf Crier, a Minneapolis-based duo that signed with Jagjaguwar before releasing 2010’s Inter-Be and 2011's Garden of Arms. ~ Andrew Leahey