LADDERS EP. (PUBLIC SCHOOL RECORDS) FEBRUARY 14, 2009.

San Francisco-based The Rhombus use plain language, elements of musique concrete, simple synths, guitar and drum machine to bring lyrical anecdotes about shopping for towels at Target to vivid life alongside songs built upon psychedelic tales of giants and destroying the sky—and it all makes perfect sense.

Decidedly laissez-faire attitudinally, the delivery of principal songwriter Cody Hennesy is so calm as to be dreamlike, but make no mistake about it—The Rhombus' recordings are a magically dynamic tapestry woven of tiny hooks and gentle tales. Listen close, and you'll hear the scraping of strings, the building of percussive beats, scratch by plink by thump.

The band's Ladders EP comes hot on the heels of 2008's Margins full-length; Hennesy made limited-edition handcrafted covers for each copy (now out of print in that format), and Public School Records released the album on vinyl (CD included!) in December of 2008.

Cody Hennesy is joined in the band by his brother, J. Hennesy, and others. He says of his band, "The Rhombus is sort of like those dudes from the 1930s who played their banjos and jugs on their front porches, or in church or whatever. It's not that we sound like those guys, but we play "folk" music in the sense that we play music for ourselves and for our friends, and for you too, but only if you're interested." We are, and you should be, too.