Sleeping in the Aviary

Emerging from their Madison, WI, base, the self-consciously quirky indie rock trio Sleeping in the Aviary launched their live career during spring 2004. The high-energy ensemble channeled new wave influences that echoed early XTC and Talking Heads prior to those acts’ embrace of Brian Eno and the Nonesuch Explorer series, while also delivering occasionally precious, studiedly “wacky” lyrics that matched the band’s deliberately absurd name. Anchored by the central partnership of singer-guitarist Elliott Kozel and bassist-keyboardist Phil Mahlstadt, the group cycled through multiple drummers and second guitarists until locking in its definitive trio configuration with the addition of drummer Michael Sienkowski in 2006. That same year they inked a deal with the hometown indie Science of Sound Records, which issued their first full-length, Oh, This Old Thing?, the following February.