Vitreous Humor

Vitreous Humor originated in Topeka, Kansas, with its founding trio of Danny Pound, Dan Benson, and Brad Allen still too young to hold driver’s licenses. As that lineup the group issued the 7-inch single “Harbor,” after which Brooks Rice joined on bass to complete the quartet. The band quickly built a regional reputation in Kansas through its sharp, angular style and the vocal extremes of singer Pound, who alternated between near-whispers and unhinged outbursts. Its nearest approach to a full-length release came with the 1995 seven-track collection The Vitreous Humor Self-Titled E.P., which fused the precision of late-1970s no wave with the tension of early-1990s angst. Despite never undertaking anything resembling a nationwide tour, the band attracted a following across the country, drawing considerable attention from listeners and labels alike. Mounting pressures from within and without eventually ended the group the next year, yet the original members later reconvened for a handful of shows promoting the odds-and-ends anthology Posthumous. In the intervening period Pound, Benson, and Allen had formed the Regrets, cut one album, and disbanded.