It was the cat-poles around the lake at his grandfather’s farm that inspired Ben Sollee’s debut album Learning To Bend. The frailty of those awkward looking plants standing stoutly against winds that challenged even the strongest of nearby trees is an affecting metaphor for human struggle and perseverance. This idea is central to Learning To Bend.

Key tracks on Learning To Bend include two reactions to the current political landscape, “A Few Honest Words,” and an adaptation of Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come,” in which Ben has written updated, politically relevant verses. Other highlights of the album are the playful, soul track, “How To See the Sun Rise” and the vulnerable yet insistent “It’s Not Impossible,” where Ben laments the unfortunate status quo that “boys don’t cry.”

You’ve never heard of Daniel Martin Moore, from Cold Spring, Kentucky. That’s okay. Before we got his unsolicited demo in January 2007, neither had we. Luckily, he’d heard of us, and contacted us the way people in Cold Spring still do—he sent us a package, just to see what would happen. In all honesty, his odds were quite slim, but occasionally we’ll take down that “no solicitation” sign on our door. Eventually, we opened his package and gave his four songs a listen and decided to contact him—we happened upon Daniel while he was working at a friend’s bed and breakfast in Costa Rica. He’d been a bit of a drifter up until this point, studied photography in college, joined the Peace Corps in 2006, traveling to Cameroon for his service. What was supposed to be a two year commitment was cut short due to illness. So he came back to the states, lived in Minnesota for a while with his brother (who plays piano on several tracks), and began to focus on music.

Think About Life is a gargantuan 3 headed party creature! The band's primary vocal organ is Martin Cesar, the genius of the Donkey Heart quartet; Matt Shane is the machine behind the band's drums and Graham Van Pelt is the red-headed multi-instrumentalist with a guitar.

The band's self-titled debut recording, Think About Life, was released in 2006 on Alien8 Recordings. They began touring in the US in late 2005, opening dates for Wolf Parade and later Art Brut, as well as touring in Canada and Japan.

Family, the follow-up to their self-titled LP, came out May 26th, 2009 in Canada. They'll be spending some quality family time in Canada this summer & autumn of 2009, followed up by shows in the States and in Brazil where they release the album internationally.