'learning how to crawl' is an accident. the songs were all recorded very quickly and spontaneously, oftentimes minutes after they were written with absolutely no intention of release. the majority of what is heard on it is the first time tyler ritter (guitar and vocals) sat down to play and sing the song. some songs were written and all of the parts were recorded in under the span of an hour. a scant few tyler doesn't remember how he played some of the parts that he ended up with. there are mistakes all over the place on it- but everything that was left in was left in for a reason. it's built around purely acoustic songs- the reasons to release it came later as shalloboi is primarily a band with songs built around massive psychedelic, cataclysmically loud and droning guitars, chant-like vocals and minimal percussion and loops.

'petals' bio-

'petals,' the second full-length album from shalloboi, was recorded over a three-and-a-half year process amidst constant poverty, countless moves, nothing-to-show-for-it all nighters, broken recording equipment and seemingly endless turmoil. begun in fall of 2002 shortly after they'd moved to portland, or in stefanie's sister's basement it wasn't completed until march of 2006 after a trip to st. paul, mn to record cello tracks with billy speer. through it all the end result has proven to be beyond worthwhile as it's the most complete artistic statement that they've released to date. more melodically developed than 'blue-eyed' and the 'invisible against the sun' ep and moving in a darker and more mood-oriented direction it marks the end of their current aesthetic.

'invisible against the sun'-era bio-

the release of the ‘invisible against the sun’ ep marks a period of change in shalloboi. shalloboi began out of necessity as a solo project for tyler ritter’s sprawling songs in 2001 and built to the extended recording of debut ‘blue-eyed.’ after the release of the album in november and the recording of the bulk of the material which will make up the next full-length release, ritter saw the necessity of bringing at least one other person into his weird, little corner of the universe. that person became stefanie goodwin when they tried to sing one of ritter’s newest songs together. ‘we sang it together once and when we were listening to it it kind of freaked us out and we were both just like “do you think we should do it again?” in the end we were just too scared to because we thought we might ruin it,’ ritter says. that song was ‘the weather king’ and it set the tone for the writing and recording of ‘invisible against the sun’ and facilitated goodwin’s joining the live lineup for the first time at a show at the knitting factory in hollywood after only two months of learning how to play the bass. ritter also managed to steal some recording time with billy speer, who played cello on two ‘blue-eyed’ tracks, for each of the ‘invisible...’ ep’s songs. ‘invisible against the sun’ is more based in spontanaeity and the capturing of a pure moment. much of the music was recorded in one take and each of the songs saw at least two different versions before arriving at their completed states. the results are the first hints of a darker sound which will be explored more fully on the next full-length (called ‘petals’) which is nearly complete. in typical shalloboi style the ep was recorded in a variety of different places amidst numerous moves, mostly confined at least to just one city this time- portland, or.

'blue-eyed' era bio

tyler ritter began to play under the name ‘shalloboi’ in november of 2001 when he was offered a slot opening for the liars in his original hometown of kansas city, mo. in the wake of the break-up of indie/hardcore band the short bus kids (of which tyler had been a member since he was in high school) tyler’s music began to move in a different direction. the elements of the music he loved—the noise and texture of my bloody valentine, the vastness of sigur rós, the droning minimalism of spacemen 3 and spiritualized and the songwriting styles of the cure and elliott smith—and the music he heard in his head suddenly coalesced when he purchased a boss sampler and a viola bow to play his guitar with. suddenly everything was in place for tyler to play his own music on his own terms and completely by himself if need be. the liberated spirit of this time period is what fueled the writing and recording of ‘blue-eyed,’ the first shalloboi album. the process ran from roughly april of 2001 to june of 2004 amidst numerous moves. after a period of doing many informal shows tyler moved to portland, or in search of a more diverse music scene. since moving to portland he’s played with a variety of bands in a wide range of venues (including a few in olympia and seattle) as well as performing as part of moe staiano of sleepytime gorilla museum’s moe!kestra in august of 2003.