People

People is Mary Halvorson (guitar and singing) and Kevin Shea (drums and backup vocals). Separately, they have played extensively with some of the most creative and important musicians in New York and beyond; however, the product of their partnership is wholly original and equally remarkable. Their tightly crafted "pop" songs, played with the spontaneity and intensity of the best of the avant-garde, not to mention Mary's personal, almost operatic singing, are as carefully composed as a classical piece and as earth shattering as if played by a rock band with double their instrumentation and wattage.

Mary and Kevin decided to become People in 2003, with Kevin writing the words that Mary composed music for. Their own cryptic description of the project: "Themes include a dialectic of mentality (the residual physiological/neurological analysis of, and its subsequent somatoformic disorders) and praxis." Whatever, guys. After they had played shows around New York for the better part of a year, Robbie Lee brought People into his Manhattan studio to record I and Ear's first record. Their eponymous debut is engineered and mixed by Rusty Santos, whose recent credits include the widely acclaimed Animal Collective album Sung Tongs, recent recordings from reclusive folk legend Vashti Bunyon, and his own records (mostly recently 2004's The Heavens on Uunited Acoustic Recordings).

Here is an abridged selection of some of the other projects that the members of People have been involved with:

Mary Halvorson plays guitar in Trevor Dunn's Trio-Convulsant (ipecac), and has also performed and toured with the Anthony Braxton Quintet. Other releases include MAP (H&H Production) with Tatsuya Nakatani and Clayton Thomas. Current projects include: Mary Halvorson/Jessica Pavone Duo, Taylor Ho Bynum Quintet, Ted Reichman's My Ears are Bent, MP3 (Mike Pride Trio) and Matthew Welch's Blarvuster.

Kevin Shea has performed throughout the U.S., Canada, U.K., Europe, Japan, and Taiwan. Recordings with: Storm & Stress (both records on Touch and Go); Coptic Light (full length on No Quarter, They Keep Me Smiling comp on Uunited Acoustic Recordings, 7" on Volume 001); Moppa Elliott's Mostly Other People Do The Killing (Hot Cup); Membranaphonics Comp (Monitor Records); Folktales Vol. 3 (Crouton); Just Drums 2 (duet w/Ravish Momin on Fever Pitch); The Love of Everything FriEND'S EP (Record Label); Sexy Thoughts -- 30 Minutes On the World Map Comp (Richmond County Archives); Tyondai Braxton's Rise Rise Rise (Narnack); Swirlies' Cats of the Wild - Volume Two (Bubble Core). Kevin also plays with Kesh (w/Daniel Carter), Puttin' On The Ritz, New York 69 (w/Adam Caine), Micah Gaugh, TALIBAM!, Lo Crabanza and Get The People.