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Members: Katie Hasty - Guitar/Vocals, Clifton Hyde - guitars and other stringed things, Joe Lops - guitar, Phil Matthews - drums, Tom Mayer - upright bass

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True Americana doesn't often come via New York, but that's exactly what Numbers And Letters has emerged with, spurred on from years of songwriting, drinking, church-attending, pool-playing and living in the former industrial wasteland that is north Brooklyn. Fronted by singer/songwriter Katie Hasty, Numbers And Letters' songs are sparse, lush and sad, with a tinge of hope that comes from growing up in a flat, quiet place.

From the suburbs of Kansas City, Hasty moved to Chicago for college. But it wasn't until 2004, when she left for New York to work as an editor at Billboard.com, that Hasty started began playing guitar and writing songs. After years of studying opera, classical piano and gospel and choral music, she abandoned her traditional background.

Numbers And Letters was a project formed from her songwriting and, after a time of rotating through different casts of characters, a band was formed of five constants. Guitarist/noisemaker Clifton Hydehas played with an eclectic array of acts like Sigur Ros, Mandy Moore and Lou Reed, guitarist Joe Lops cut his teeth in a number of projects in Portland, Maine including Cult Maze before moving to New York. Drummer Phil Matthews has performed for over a dozen years and upright bassist Tom Mayerhas played with more than a few New York acts, including the Flanks.

"Numbers And Letters" was recorded by Sammy Rubin (Project Jenny, Project Jan) throughout 2007 at Music For Picture in Manhattan. Eric Feigenbaum (Gordon Gano, Lowry) is putting the final touches on the mix; "Numbers And Letters" will be released in April 13, 2008 with a kick-off party at New York'sMercury Lounge with Lucinda Black Bear and Taxi Taxi.

The EP will come in packaging that was hand-made, using partly recycled materials, with each "case" hand-numbered and 100% unique. And it'll be given away for free. Why? "Because I want you to feel a connection to the acquisition of music. The packaging is hand-made for now because I wanted a physical release to be a literal artifact, a record, of time and place," Hasty wrote in a recent newsletter. "In an ideal world, I'd rather listeners have a tangible experience with the music -- a minor physical commitment to discovery -- and for now I don't want cost to inhibit its dissemination." That, and free is always funner.

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