Tobin Sprout

Tobin Sprout is nothing short of a prodigy. In addition to being one of those musicians (like Captain Beefheart or John Mellencamp) the quality of whose paintings matches or excels their recordings, Sprout is also one of the busiest artists of the Indie underground. A former member of Guided by Voices, he has also recorded songs under his own name and with side projects eyesinweasel and Bevil Web. Characterized by their melancholy pop airs and a fondness for stark minimalist passages, Sprout's compositions helped hone the Lo-Fi aesthetic into an art form. By tweaking guitar tunings, convoluting rhythms with deliberate syncopation, and downplaying the importance of exacting production methods, Sprout and Guided by Voices further developed the oft imitated approach of eschewing technique in order to heighten the spontaneity and directness of the song. Upon repeated listening, Sprout's disjointed music manages never to sound the same -- new tremors and undiscovered nuances spring anew with each exposure.