* En anglais uniquement
Formed in 2001 when Amoeba Music record store employees and musicians
Jel (Jeffrey Logan) and
Doseone (Adam Drucker) -- who already made up the Anticon band
Themselves -- started playing with
Dax Pierson, clicking almost instantly. Soon they invited woodwind player
Marty Dowers, guitarist
Jordan Dalrymple, and cellist
Alexander Kort -- all of whom
Pierson had previously played with -- to join the group, and
Subtle (with
Jel on percussion,
Pierson on keys and autoharp, among other instruments, and
Doseone on vocals) were born. After a couple of 12" releases and some EPs, A New White was released on Lex Records in 2004. Tragedy struck the band in February the next year when their tour van slipped on black ice, paralyzing
Pierson from the chest down. Still,
Subtle pushed forward, issuing the remix and collaboration EP
Wishingbone in 2006 and signing to EMI, which released the group's sophomore full-length, For Hero: For Fool -- which included vocal and harmonica work from
Pierson -- in conjunction with Lex later that same year, with a companion piece,
Yell & Ice, out in late 2007. Always prolific, Exiting Arm hit shelves in the spring of 2008. ~ Marisa Brown