Assembly has a distinctive, driving sound that has drawn praise from such disparate sources as Irish fiddler Martin Hayes, The Village Voice, Los-Angeles Punk Zine Flipside and nationally known folk magazine SingOut!, and has caught the attention of The Boston Globe and NPR's All Things Considered. Since their formation in 1995 the group has toured up and down the Northeastern US and across the country, developing a loyal following along the way.

Originally named Popcorn Behavior, the band released their self-titled debut in 1993. Thomas and Sam were 13 years old, Stefan was 10. Popcorn Behavior subsequently released two more albums: Journeywork (1996) marked the first collaboration with Keith Murphy; in 1999 the band recorded as a full quartet, releasing Strangest Dream to rave reviews. In January 2002 the band changed their name forever to the less silly sounding Assembly.

With the release of their new recording, January EP, Assembly has broken into the newly emerging genre of avant-folk. On their first three albums, the band stretched the folk framework of their music with eclectic inclusions from jazz, world, and rock. Now, in a change of direction, they are playing in a style that is, on the surface, still connected to its New England folk roots, but is more fundamentally radical.

Rather than embellishing the music with inclusions, they are changing the framework itself, restructuring the music by streamlining the aesthetic. The new music is aggresively minimalist, uncompromisingly simple, avoiding all distractions and extraneous notes. There is a primary focus on rhythm, unceasing, inexorable, but always loose, and a secondary focus on a suspended, blurred, and ambiguous harmonic world.

Piano, mandolin, fiddle, and drum, all occupying a fairly small range, sometimes hard to distinguish from each other, create a densely packed, overlapping texture, a wall of sound. The result is mesmerizing, trance-like music, combining dance-oriented rhythmic drive and meditative serenity.

Profiles

Sam Amidon, Assembly's fiddler, is something of a musical chameleon, but he is best known as one of the pre-eminent young Irish musicians in the country. His mastery of the subtleties of Irish ornamentation and style, and his large repertoire of esoteric tunes, bely his young age, an age that gets less young by the passing of each passing passing year. His recording of unaccompanied traditional Irish tunes, solo fiddle, is an exercise in aesthetic discipline and restraint. On the other end of the musical spectrum, he has recently become involved in experimental improvisation, and drone minimalism. Sam has worked with free-jazz legend Billy Bang, afro-pop musician Marcus James, and many bands, including The Amidon Family, Wild Asparagus and Doveman. He's studied free improvisation with Leroy Jenkins, and jazz violin with Mark Feldman. In 2003 he recorded the "self-inflicted field recordings" album "home alone inside my head," which attempts to synthesize Sam's lifelong involvement in traditional musics with his more recent explorations into improvisation. Sam is currently working on a new album of folk songs that will be called "But This Chicken Proved False Hearted." He currently resides in New York City. More info and MP3s are at samamidon.com

Stefan Amidon, Sam's younger brother and the band's percussionist, has reached proficiency on dozens of instruments during his life, but the drums are clearly his calling. As well as playing for Assembly, he is an exceptional classical percussionist, and jazz drummer. As Assembly's percussionist, he has incorporated his work in African hand-drumming, as well as jazz, into an unusual style that involves constant improvisation and embellishment on underlying grooves. In recent years, he has mastered a loose, driving approach to the snare drum that, maybe more than any other single element, has defined and given shape to Assembly's latest work. He currently studies jazz drums at Oberlin Conservatory, with Billy Hart.

Thomas Bartlett, the group's pianist, has explored the instrument from two distinct directions since the age of six. As a classical pianist he has worked with many top teachers, including a year in London with the legendary Maria Curcio, competed in international competitions, performed many solo recitals, and is particularly noted for his playing of Bach and Chopin. Meanwhile, on his own, he has developed a unique piano style, both ferociously rhythmic and delicately lyrical, that draws on listening in jazz, folk, and rock, while refusing to fit happily into any one category. As the group's primary composer and arranger, he has helped to shape and steer Assembly's developing sound. He is currently involved in many other musical projects, including work with the acclaimed alternative rock artists Chocolate Genius, Elysian Fields, M. Doughty (of Soul Coughing fame), Johnathan Rice (with whom he opened for Maroon 5), and Yuka Honda (from Cibbo Matto). He has released a recording of his own solo piano compositions, and is currently fronting Doveman, his indie-rock band, with a new recording on the way. He is also Salon.com's music critic, and has a weekly column there, the Wednesday Morning Download. He also has a blog. He can also transcend space and time.

Keith Murphy, on mandolin, guitar, and vocals, had been one of the band's mentors before finally joining as a full-time member in 1999. As a member of the trio, Nightingale, he had already been responsible for two of the most sophisticated and subtle modern folk recordings in recent memory (and a third one that was just released this past summer). He brought to the group many years of experience in a variety of musical contexts, and a precise, perfectionist approach to music that tightened and polished the band's sound. As a mandolinist and master of Irish open-tuning guitar, he combines a broad and open harmonic feel with tight, unrelenting rhythmic grounding. He continues to perform as a member of Nightingale, as well as work with Wild Asparagus, Solas fiddler Win Horan, and American fiddle great Ruthie Dornfeld. For more information on Keith's independent projects, visit www.blackislemusic.com.

As the members of Assembly continue to explore classical, jazz, rock, and avant-garde music, they bring the musical ideas they encounter back to the band, which has remained a consistent forum for further experimentation. This diversity of musical interest brought together in one group has produced a unique kind of music, a traditionally based, acoustic music that is exciting, experimental, and full of fire.