FM
History
The Mendoza Line formed in Athens, Georgia in 1996 when Timothy Bracy, Peter Hoffman, and Paul Deppler, sharing a common love of such classic songwriters as Dylan, Costello, and Richard Thompson, sought to distill these influences into a sound falling somewhere between those of the two greatest pop bands of their formative years—American Music Club and the Replacements. After embracing and repelling various other members, Tim, Pete, and Paul were joined in 1998 by Shannon Mary McArdle, a girl with an outstanding working knowledge of the folk/country tradition and an unalloyed affection for the songs of the Brill Building and Roy Orbison.
Before McArdle became a permanent member, the Mendoza Line released two albums and one EP on the Kindercore label (Poems To A Pawnshop, Like Someone in Love, and I Like You When You're Not Around). Then, with Shannon in tow, the band left the nurturing surroundings of Athens for the mean streets of Brooklyn. A third full-length album, We're All In This Alone, appeared in 2000 on Bar/None Records. It marked Shannon's debut as a songwriter and the emergence of the musical checks and balances that shape the work of the current Mendoza Line: Pete's smart melodies and choruses on top of sharp arrangements, Tim's confounding literacy and engaging creakiness, and Shannon's emotional bareness and wispy, insinuating harmonies.
