Chicago's eclectic rock quintet the Lesser Birds of Paradise features Mark Janka, Greg Thomas, Tony Bianchi, Angela Standhardt, and Tim Joyce. The group began as singer/songwriter Janka's solo project, but he soon recruited friends from other local bands to augment his songs with touches of accordion, lap steel, musical saw, ukulele, clarinet, samples, and other unusual flourishes. The band's debut, A Suitable Frame, arrived in mid-2000 on Loose Thread Recordings. Two years later, they released their second LP with producer Barry Phipps behind the boards, It Isn't the Fall. ~ Heather Phares