Indie rock buried in fuzz and hiss.

Iran take ultra catchy pop, and drag it through the detritus of lo-fi noise rock, picking up an ungodly assortment of buzz and blur and scuzz. Imagine a Pavement record on Siltbreeze. Or Sebadoh, if Lou Barlow was a jaded fuck instead of a sappy romantic. Or old Smog covering Skullflower. Or Harry Pussy playing Built To Spill. A beautifully cacophonous mess.

Iran play damaged folk music, bombarded on all sides by a wild assortment of squeals and shrieks, static and hiss, and speaker clogging grit. Huge and slowly shifting, dronescapes that evolve into perfect little pop songs and then explode into jagged shards of high end skree. Iran are psychedelic and textural and noisey and totally catchy.

Add an unhealthy obsession with Brian Wilson, Roman Polanski, indie rock, and Norwegian black metal, a handful of disasterously deafening live shows, and a charmingly fractured obstinance, and you've got Iran. Hardcore hook-filled low fidelity un-pop noise. Pop. Plus fucking wicked tiger cover art.

Dave Heumann lives and works in Baltimore. He has played with The Anomoanon, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Cass McCombs and Papa M. Arbouretum is the first band for which he is the primary songwriter, guitarist, and singer. Heumann's idea for the band was one whose songs would evoke natural forms and movements as opposed to architectural constructions with rigid forms and linear progressions. Whilst the band's hard-to-find debut was largely an individual process with players working to articulate Heumann's vision, Rites of Uncovering is the work of a group. Long-time friend Walker David Teret is a multi-instrumentalist who had played in many of the same groups as Heumann. In those groups and in Arbouretum, he has played guitar, bass, keyboards, even the drum kit at times. Walker primarily plays the guitar in the current lineup, but plays a variety of instruments on Rites of Uncovering. Also on the album is drummer Mitchell Feldstein of Lungfish, who filled in when David Bergander (of Love Life and the Celebration) had to depart for other commitments mid-way through the recording. Bassist Corey Allender also played in bands such as STArs of the dogon, Fascist Fascist, and Cass McCombs' band before joining Arbouretum.

Dave Heumann also plays in Human Bell with Nathan Bell (also ex-Lungfish).