Album Notes

“Sans braces and a Led Zeppelin t-shirt, Model Photographer was much like my first date: young, talented, nervous, and about to steal my heart ... With melodies that promenade hand in hand with sultry vocals, each tune was sweet and sour with tales of almost love, likened to that of The Reindeer Section and Tahiti 80.”
- Versus Magazine

The story of Model Photographer begins with Alex Rose, a musician and recording engineer from Albuquerque, NM. His previous bands Mistletoe and Bum Out Patrol had shared the stage with the likes of The Breeders, The Shins, Pedro the Lion, Enon, The Decemberists, and Supedrag. Despite the local success, a growing desire to escape the home state led to relocating to Seattle in early 2004, where he began playing bass in a band that consisted solely of relocated New Mexicans. He also began testing the waters for his solo material by performing at open mic nights around town. Deciding to take the plunge, he booked his first solo acoustic show at the prestigious Hotel Cafe in Los Angeles on June 17, 2004 and received a mention in the LA Times. This was encouraging, and more solo shows were booked in Seattle and New Mexico.

Later that year, the solo sets began to evolve when fellow Mistletoe and Bum Out Patrol member Westin Glass relocated to Seattle and began to play drums at the shows. A short time later, the two found bassist John Bagley (formerly of Gracie Law) and the first Model Photographer show occurred on March 3, 2005. The band subsequently received generous airplay of a two-song demo on Seattle's KEXP and was featured on their "Music That Matters" Vol. 8 podcast which was made available nationwide on iTunes.

In 2006, with an album nearly complete, Model Photographer became a side project by default when Rose found himself busier than ever playing guitar with Heather Duby and playing keys with Minus the Bear (he had previously been their live sound engineer and helped record their 2005 release, Menos El Oso). During those tours, Glass found time to record an album as The Reformation, enlisting the help of Bagley on a few of the tracks and in the newly formed live band of the same name. Model Photographer’s self-titled LP is now available for the first time on compact disc.