Biography
Bloomington, Indiana outfit the Impossible Shapes drew equal influence from lo-fi indie acts such as Guided by Voices and psychedelic pop ensembles including Olivia Tremor Control and Apples in Stereo, launching their collaborative playing and recording well before any member reached drinking age. The lineup of Chris Barth, Aaron Deer, Peter King, and Jason Groth coalesced during the final years of the 1990s. On his own Impossible label, Barth put out the cassette-only Compilation and Mono Fruits in 1998, then followed with the band’s first EP, On a Delicate Evening, the next year. Also appearing in 1999 were Barth’s Match Factory, King’s Proton Elixir cassette, and Deer’s Back When I Spoke Gibberish on the Acoustic Juice imprint, which had earlier issued his 1998 cassette The Fish That Got Away.
Quality Control for the Liquid Room, a split cassette shared with Sissy Fuzz, and the full-length The Great Migration both surfaced in 2000; the latter drew positive notices that placed the group alongside Pavement, Syd Barrett, and the Small Faces. Laughter Fills Our Hollow Dome arrived in 2002 and received further acclaim for pushing the band’s sound in more experimental directions. That same year Barth issued his solo effort Loving Off the Land: A Story in Two Parts, while 2003 brought the band releases Bless the Headless and We Like It Wild. Beyond their own projects, Barth, Deer, King, and Groth joined singer Seth Mahern and guitarist Eric Weddle in the soul collective John Wilkes Booze. The Impossible Shapes delivered their fifth studio album, Horus, in 2005 and followed it with Tum in 2006.
Quality Control for the Liquid Room, a split cassette shared with Sissy Fuzz, and the full-length The Great Migration both surfaced in 2000; the latter drew positive notices that placed the group alongside Pavement, Syd Barrett, and the Small Faces. Laughter Fills Our Hollow Dome arrived in 2002 and received further acclaim for pushing the band’s sound in more experimental directions. That same year Barth issued his solo effort Loving Off the Land: A Story in Two Parts, while 2003 brought the band releases Bless the Headless and We Like It Wild. Beyond their own projects, Barth, Deer, King, and Groth joined singer Seth Mahern and guitarist Eric Weddle in the soul collective John Wilkes Booze. The Impossible Shapes delivered their fifth studio album, Horus, in 2005 and followed it with Tum in 2006.
Albums
