Our Brother The Native

Experimental indie rock trio Our Brother the Native arose from the early alliance between Michigan-based multi-instrumentalists John-Michael Foss and Joshua Bertram, whose tastes aligned with those of Animal Collective and CocoRosie. The pair first connected while Foss was finishing high school and Bertram was two years behind; they immediately began writing and tracking material together. Their initial setup centered on a drum machine and banjo, yet they soon incorporated skewed vocals, children’s toys, electronics, piano, guitar, and additional textures. After linking with Delude Records, the California indie label headed by sixteen-year-old multi-instrumentalist Chaz Knapp, the group issued its debut EP, Cheer Up My Dear, The Sun Will Shine Again, in 2005. The arrangement fostered a lasting friendship between Bertram and Knapp that transcended distance. Delude also released Bertram’s sparse, banjo-driven solo project Pappa Bones and the Creature Children of the Forrest, credited to JSP. Knapp and Bertram next explored ideas under the Moses Grandy name, but sensing an absence they invited Knapp to become a full member of Our Brother the Native later that year, even though he remained in California. The resulting full-length album therefore took shape through emailed file exchanges, each track assembled incrementally. By late 2005, songs posted on the band’s MySpace page drew the attention of U.K. label FatCat Records, which signed the act while Knapp and Bertram were still sixteen and Foss only eighteen. Recording wrapped in early 2006, yet the three members convened in person for the first time at Belgium’s Open Circuit Festival that February. Tooth & Claw reached stores in the U.K. and Europe in June before arriving in North America the following month.