Alternately thought of as "drug songs" and "medicine music", the shambolic, shamanistic realm of Apothecary Hymns came into being at the end of 2003, when ex-The Court & Spark bassist Alex Stimmel taught himself how to play the drums so he could capture some of his nascent songs in a one-man band format. The resulting 45, "Half of What is Seen" b/w "The Marigold," drew praise not only from the underground psych community (such as Byron Coley [in The Wire], & Gerald Van Waes's influential Psych van het Folk site), but also more mainstream publications like Goldmine, which featured the limited-edition, hand-numbered picture sleeve in its 2004 indie special.
The single caught the attention of Chicago's Locust Music, who signed Stimmel and the AH moniker upon first hearing. The debut album, Trowel & Era was released in April, 2005. But, after playing a number of ad-hoc release shows, Stimmel dove full-time into his "day job" - teaching music to students with emotional disturbance in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Content to continue to develop his songs over the next two years, Stimmel stayed away from recording in favor of teaching, playing full-band shows in NYC and going on the road as time allowed, playing solo electric sets, looping & droning his Strat through open-tuned folk-cum-fuzz.
Then, in June of 2007, after years of shifting personnel, a new Apothecary Hymns live band solidified around bassist Rob Fellman (the only original band member to remain), second guitarist Jon Abrams and drummer Aaron Nixon. Happy to abandon the one-man format in favor of the energy of the new, full-tilt configuration, the quartet began woodshedding 12 new tunes and has blissfully moved into a twin-guitar, heavy rural psych phase. Apothecary Hymns will be recording the follow-up for Locust this fall, for early 2008 release.
