In autumn of 2004, Ark of Limbs was formed when Corey McCafferty, Daniel Feeney, and Alexander Bassett collected their gear and set up shop in a brick coach house in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood. The house has served as both rehearsal space and recording studio for the band over the last year, allowing each member to express their own unique takes on electronic music production and recording.
In live performance Ark of Limbs has developed artistic and pop sensibilities through select appearances at a number of well-chosen Chicago venues. The band has played the International Artec 04 festival at Transamoeba Gallery, a celebration of Chicago electronic music at the Texas Ballroom called “The Look-A-Like Contestâ€, the annual Urban Dialectic at the Congress Theater, a Native Instruments Artist Spotlight at Rodan, an art show/improv performance called “Furniture Musicâ€, club gigs at both Tini Martini and Funky Buddha Lounge, a radio spot on WLUW, and most recently the official after party for Wicker Park’s “Around The Coyote†Arts Festival. The “Furniture Music†event, produced with the help of Chicago art collective OAO, featured the display of paintings, installations, and live video projections. Arks performance blended acoustic and electronic improvisation with reinterpretation of pieces like Erik Satie’s Trois Gnossienne.
After meeting at Columbia College in 1999 Dan and Alexander started work on a sample-based music project called Mormon Anti-matter Choir. These were the first steps either had taken towards merging guitar recording with computer generated rhythms and effects. A year later the two reunited for work with Bassett’s techno project Heavy Petting with Justin Rickles. This was another success in integrating live guitars and drums with the sometimes cold and foreign confines of electronic arrangements. In 2003 Dan began playing with Florida transplant drummer Corey McCafferty and guitarist John Monahan in an instrumental space rock group that would become known as I/O. After playing locally with a rotating cast of bass players and recording two ep’s the group dissolved when John was lost to the west coast. By this time Alex had begun sitting in on rehearsals at I/O’s institutional Superior St practice space and ideas for some of the Ark of Limbs songs were beginning to take shape. Four months later the three convened at the brick coach house in Pilsen they dubbed the House of Limb. This comfortable live/work space has provided fuel for the creation of a new ep and the group’s transformation into a fluid live music machine.