The New Mendicants came together as an indie pop supergroup when Norman Blake from Scotland's Teenage Fanclub joined forces with Joe Pernice from the American outfit the Pernice Brothers. The pair of seasoned songwriters first crossed paths back in 2000 after their respective groups appeared on the same London bill. A dozen years on, both found themselves residing in Toronto, where renewed camaraderie prompted them to launch a fresh project. By the start of 2013 the duo had enlisted Mike Belitsky, onetime Pernice Brothers drummer now working with the Sadies, and the three began penning material aimed at the screen version of mutual acquaintance Nick Hornby's novel A Long Way to Fall. Although the tracks ultimately went unused in the movie, the musicians remained enthusiastic and pressed ahead with further recordings that would form their first full-length effort. The resulting understated, tuneful songs merged signature pop ingredients from each member's main band while evoking the classic 1960s style of the Hollies and Peter & Gordon. Opting for a self-sufficient approach to their inaugural outing, the Australia 2013 EP, they launched their own imprint, XPT (an abbreviation for Expat). The follow-up single "A Very Sorry Christmas" appeared soon after, paving the way for the January 2014 arrival of their debut LP, Into the Lime.
