The pair joined forces in 2007 and began issuing CD-Rs of music that carried on the tradition of angular, cerebrally noisy acts ranging from Ut, DNA, Sonic Youth, and Teenage Jesus & the Jerks to Magik Markers and Sightings. Sightings' bassist Richard Hoffman appeared on Talk Normal's first official release, the 2008 EP Secret Cog. The following year, they embarked on tours with like-minded acts such as Tall Firs, US Girls, and AIDS Wolf; that fall, their full-length debut, Sugarland, arrived. After releasing a single and a split EP with Thurston Moore in 2011, Talk Normal's more melodic but still challenging second album Sunshine arrived. ~ Heather Phares