With the initial sessions recorded in June of 2010 and compelted in February 2011, CHIVES has easily had the longest genesis for any Corresponding Handpieces album. However, as Dave describes it, "it sounds like all the songs came from the same band for once".

And it's true: featuring a much greater acoustic focus this time out, the band mines an emotional territory that is unlike anything they've written prior, talking about self-sabatoging relationships and reluctant optimism in as direct a way as they ever have. Opening with a straight-faced Talking Heads cover and concluding with an acoustic goof about the actual police distruption that shut down the first silo-based recording session, this is as unflinchingly honest as the band has ever been. Even the husband/wife vocal tradeoffs of "The Spark" showcase a raw nerve perspective on modern relationships that the has never before been seen in the band.

Of course, it wouldn't be a Corresponding Handpieces album without some unique, otherworldy highlights, and from the first session, the instrumental track "23" struck a chord immediately: the band didn't want to edit a note of it as they found it just too unbelivably gorgeous. When it came to selecting singles, "Ask For a Small Hello" was an immediate standout because it was so unlike anything the band had done, which is why that release was followed with "That's What I Do", a darkly optimistic song about fighting for true love.

No matter what, though, the members of Corresponding Handpieces are intensely pleased with how the album came out, with guitarist/flautist Jenny Rychter adding a new dimension to the proceedings as well (she's featured on 6 of the 13 tracks). Needless to say, the Handpieces have done it again, and made another lo-fi piece of musical insanity with CHIVES.