Beauty Sleep

In 2004, former college friends Annabel Kaplan and Tony Larkin unexpectedly crossed paths at a concert in Brooklyn, New York, which sparked the launch of Beauty Sleep. A handful of informal jam sessions later prompted them to bring in drummer Rob DiCaterino and bassist Brian DiFeo, completing the quartet. The group’s wistful, dreamy indie pop sound, marked by jangly guitar textures and earnest vocals that recalled the twee style of the Softies and the Field Mice, soon attracted Connecticut-based Skipping Stones after the band issued its self-titled five-track EP. Early 2006 brought the abrupt exit of DiFeo, which stalled work on the planned debut album Songs on Tape Recorders. The four-song EP Nature vs. Nurture appeared shortly before the group entered hiatus in summer 2007.