New York indie rock quartet Active Bird Community rose from their scrappy suburban teenage garage band roots to become a successful national touring act and Brooklyn scene fixture with a '90s-influenced slacker-garage-grunge-pop sound and a handful of well-crafted records to their credit, including 2015's standout I've Been Going Swimming LP. After a decade of D.I.Y. success, the band inked a deal with Barsuk Records in 2018 to release its fourth outing, Amends. The band was formed in 2005 when founding members Tom D'Agustino (guitar/vocals), Andrew Wolfson (guitar/vocals), and Zach Slater (bass) were all in middle school in the New York suburb of Hastings-on-Hudson. The bonds of friendship and creativity carried them through high school and eventually their college days attending different schools, during which time they added permanent drummer Quinn McGovern and solidified their lineup. Installing themselves in the fertile musical enclave of Brooklyn, ABC began gigging more regularly and self-released their debut LP, 2012's Magnum Opus, a lo-fi garage pop set that introduced fans to their melodic, '90s-influenced sound. A series of smaller releases followed over the next few years, including the fiery Drive Like Your Kids Live Here EP in 2012, the slightly more streamlined "Astrophobia/Eidelolon" single in 2014, and a self-titled 2015 EP. Working with producer Christopher Daly at his New Paltz studio, Salvation Recording Co., the band released their second full-length, I've Been Going Swimming, in October 2015. With Daly's help, ABC's sound became more focused and they resumed their collaboration with him for 2017's Stick Around LP. Having built up their grassroots following with years of touring and a growing canon of self-released material, they finally made the jump to a label, signing with Barsuk for their fourth album, Amends, which was released in September 2018. ~ Timothy Monger