"Dig", 2011 Over the course of 2010, each of these songs - often unfinished and consistently unrehearsed - were recorded and mixed in one day at Strange Weather in Brooklyn, NY. Each month, Imaginary Johnny gathered to learn and record a tune. Sometimes the path was obvious. Other times there were dares and double-dares (often involving a mellotron). The band enjoyed the freedom and thrill of not knowing what they were doing, along with the (near) certainty that it would be done by midnight. In many ways this recording shares qualities with Imaginary Johnny's earlier albums, with the studio taking a primary creative role. However, there is more depth here and also more nerve. The songs share themes of airplanes, dirt, and outcasts looking for some luck. And like the recording process, at the heart of things is a desire to recall that gut-wrenching child-like feeling of excitement that can only come with not knowing.

"Only Chimneys", 2008 With Only Chimneys, Imaginary Johnny finally realized their dream of making a record the old fashioned way - hammering it out in the studio. Working with producer Joel Hamilton, the band created a dark and grand collection of songs. Longtime fans will recognize the distinctive imagistic songwriting, and will discover a warmth and cohesiveness. There is a newfound fullness to IJ's sound, with brass, strings and a choir of sorts. Only Chimneys is no less personal than the recordings that preceded it, but it is also epic, taking on larger socio-political themes.

"No Air", 2007 It was mostly Zach Barocas' idea. The band would venture south to J. Robbins' Baltimore studio to create something resembling a live album. In November 2005, Imaginary Johnny recorded and mixed this stark EP in two days with Zach on drums, Eric Morse on toy store miscellany, Adam Sylvia on guitar, and Stuart Wolferman on vocals and keys. This is the first IJ recording that can convincingly be called rock, and it maintains a journal entry kind of fascination (at least to those of us who were in Baltimore).

"Painting Over The Dirt", 2006 The first full-length, Painting, is a collection of 10 songs written over a fairly long period of time. Most was written in Seattle, but a few stragglers (most obviously, "Rat Race") were done in Brooklyn. Again, this record was tracked almost entirely in a bedroom with Stuart cobbling together samples, twisting them, re-arranging things layer upon layer. Completion of this record led down a new path though, through an exciting collaboration with producer/engineer Joel Hamilton during the mix. With Joel, the true possibilities of the studio began to reveal themselves. It was the beginning of a step away from the computer, with sounds traveling, finally, through air.

"The Upside Of The Downside", 2003 In the dark Seattle winter of 2003, before Imaginary Johnny was Imaginary Johhny (when IJ was briefly and nearly irreversibly named Pork Chop in Vegas), five songs were lovingly tracked in a small Ballard neighborhood bedroom. It's a small record with small moments that seem to sort of add up to something, hopefully.