'Hymns for a Dark Horse' is the first album from Raleigh, North Carolina duo BOWERBIRDS. Indicative of the music they make, Bowerbirds were born of unequal parts conflict and sweetness. PHIL MOORE and MARK PAULSON (TICONDEROGA) had moved east from Iowa to form a band. Phil met BETH TACULAR-a collected and published painter-while they worked together in a grocery store. Beth's marriage was failing, and she saw something special in Phil. Phil and Beth moved in together. They painted pictures and wrote songs and sang them. They started Bowerbirds and asked Mark to join them whenever possible. They've toured the country once in a minivan, playing small clubs and coffee shops and street corners that welcome them, then camping beneath the stars with pleasure. They live in an Airstream trailer in the woods, and they're ecstatic. Built on the belief that our limited earth ("In Our Talons") is as sacred as the unlimited love that we can find within it ("Human Hands"), Bowerbirds make acoustic music that feels good and aware and powerful and hopeful. And yes, they know nothing should be all of those things anymore. "My favorite new band in forever." -John Darnielle (Mountain Goats).