Two Gallants

Simplicity defines the lo-fi fusion of folk and indie rock crafted by San Francisco-based duo Two Gallants. Drawing their moniker from a James Joyce short story, Adam Stephens (vocals/guitar/harmonica) and Tyson Vogel (drums/vocals) have performed together under that name since 2002, projecting the raw character of a gritty Southern folk outfit rather than reflecting their Bay Area roots. Their first album, The Throes, appeared in 2004 via Alive Records, with the follow-up What the Toll Tells arriving two years later on Saddle Creek. In June 2007 the pair issued the five-song EP The Scenery of Farewell to ready listeners for the self-titled full-length that followed in September. That EP marked their first output after an October 2006 confrontation at a Houston venue, where officers tried to halt a Two Gallants performance over a noise violation, sparking a clash that left two audience members tasered. The episode resulted in Vogel passing a night behind bars and triggered a wave of support across the indie scene once accounts spread online. Their fourth studio record, The Bloom and the Blight, arrived in 2012 on ATO Records—their initial release for the label—and was helmed by producer John Congleton (St. Vincent, Explosions in the Sky). After an intensive stretch of road work throughout 2013, the duo reconvened with Karl Derfler (Tom Waits, Smash Mouth) to shape their fifth album. They tracked the material over a month in 2014 at Panoramic House studios in California, issuing the resulting We Are Undone on February 3, 2015.