It's a mesmerizing set of songs - gut-wrenching, sophisticated, built up from the barest arrangement to an often explosive climax- while echoing dense layers of sound and devices.

Pleasant Grove so named for a Dallas, Texas suburb, was formed by
co-vocalists / guitarists Bret Egner and Marcus Striplin. They were drawn
together by a vision to write and play music that captured raw melancholy
melodies laid out over slow spacious rhythmic harmonies. Pleasant Grove
released their debut album, Pleasant Grove, on Last Beat Records in 1999.

Germany's Glitterhouse Records caught Pleasant Grove's stunning SXSW 2000
Music Showcase. The label quickly snapped up the band and released their
self titled CD, and later, their follow up album, Ascultation of the Heart (recorded w/ Matt Pence of Centromatic). In the Spring of 2002 Pleasant Grove toured Europe and parts of the US to promote this release and were well received throughout these regions.

...A veritable kite mark of excellence in modern Americana.
Titles as audacious as I Couldnt Withstand the Damage of an Evil and
Wicked Divorce are matched by arrangements of equal poignancy, whimpering
understatement versus breast-beating opulence to rival anything by the
Silver Jews, Mercury Rev, or the Handsome Family. 4 Stars! - UNCUT

Which brings us to the present state of and new beginning for Pleasant
Grove. In late February of 2003 communication began between the band and
Badman Recording Co. Badman is home to such acts as Mark Kozelek
of Red House Painters, My Morning Jacket, and Hayden has now become the perfect home for the band. Pleasant Grove recorded most of the
album at Closer Recording in San Francisco with Dylan Magierek (Mark Kozelek, Call and Response, Erlend Oye) at the helm and the rest in their hometown of Dallas, TX with Stuart Sikes, who has produced acts such as The Walkmen, The Grifters and The White Stripes.

The new album represents yet another stage in the bands career as it delves into different, uncharted ground in their songwriting and yet maintains a sentiment and cohesiveness of longing and desperation that has been prevalent since the beginning. The Art of Leaving is distinctively different from Pleasant Grove's previous CDs, yet maintains an aesthetic continuity between them all. It's a mesmerizing set of songs - gut-wrenching, sophisticated, built up from the barest arrangement to an often explosive climax- while echoing dense layers of sound and devices.