Sic Alps

Sic Alps originated in the early 2000s as a raw, lo-fi indie-rock project steeped in noise-pop textures and the Velvet Underground’s influential drowsy minimalism. Matt Hartman, previously of Henry’s Dress, and Mike Donovan, formerly of the Ropers, initiated the collaboration after crossing paths in the late 1990s during separate tour itineraries. Their first release, the cassette-only single Semi-Streets on Folding, appeared in fall 2004. Over the ensuing four years the duo issued slightly more than six additional singles, three EPs—The Soft Tour in Rough Form and Teenage Alps in 2006, followed by Description of the Harbor in 2007—and the full-length A Long Way Around to a Shortcut, which Animal Disguise brought out in spring 2008. Later that same summer Siltbreeze issued the second album, U.S. EZ. Drag City re-released A Long Way Around to a Shortcut in 2009, a year when the band also shared bills with Magik Markers, Times New Viking, and Sonic Youth. In 2010 Sic Alps appeared at the Pavement-curated All Tomorrow’s Parties festival, opened for Pavement at Brixton Academy, and contributed a track to an Amnesty International compilation. Napa Asylum, the group’s debut album for Drag City, emerged in January 2011 and introduced new member Noel Von Haromonson. Their sixth album, the self-titled Sic Alps, followed in September 2012 with markedly cleaner production and a stronger emphasis on psychedelic pop. The 2013 EP She’s on Top further reinforced that polished approach. While touring Europe in July 2013 the band declared its dissolution; three months later Donovan issued his solo debut, WOT.