Album Notes

Longtime Subsonics drummer and former Vendettas frontwoman Buffi Aguero, always in search of a new musical vehicle, formed the White Lights in 1999. She enlisted her Vendettas bandmates Johnny Vignault and Sam Leyja, Subsonics bandmate Clay Reed, former Superstar Pillowfight member Ana Balka, and longtime friends Stuart Ellis and Kristen Loomis to fill out the ensemble.

The concept of the White Lights, with its array of instruments and wide landscape, was intended to be a departure from the garage band sound that many of the members were heretofore known for. Employing lush, moody textures and bottom-end reverb, the band's sound comes across as a cross between the drone of Velvet Underground and the tumbleweeds of Calexico.

The White Lights functioned much like a laboratory experiment. They put together diverse instruments such as vibraphone, violin, pedal steel, and baritone guitar - names which conjure up different genres not thought to mix well together - yet because of the restraint and moderation, the mix works.

Following the release of a self-titled debut record in 2000, Mike Poteet and Keith Xenos were brought aboard to replace Reed and Loomis as the rhythm section. The band recorded a follow-up record in June 2001, then went on hiatus as a couple of the members relocated from Atlanta. Aguero resurrected the tapes from that session in late 2003, and Two Sheds is now releasing Gifts from Strangers to serve as a testament to one of the most interesting bands to ever grace the Atlanta music scene.