He and Camille used to spend their days at their grandfather's restaurant, where they would listen to the house organist play for hours on end. "In retrospect, I know now he played a high form of Muzak," Alexander said. "But at the time all I knew is we'd feel very proud if one of us could recognize a song or motif he played...that felt like an accomplishment." The two eventually moved with their family to Cambridge, MA, where Alexander started tooling around on the guitar. He eventually moved to New York, where he played guitar and sang for various bands, including Soltero. He grew disillusioned with the state of the New York indie scene, though, and finally moved back to Cambridge in 2003, at which point he started collaborating with his sister on Ponies in the Surf. The duo released its first EP, Demonstration, in 2004. The release, which was comprised of eight retro-feeling, unadorned acoustic tunes, made a few ripples in the blogosphere, and the duo released its first full-length album, See You Happy, four long years later on Darla. ~ Margaret Reges