Numbers And Letters

(an alt-country folk dark-pop Americana band from Brooklyn)

I HAVE a free Numbers And Letters, hand-made, hand-numbered CD!

I WANT a free Numbers And Letters, hand-made, hand-numbered CD!

NEWS

April 14, 2009
Check out Project Jenny Project Jan's new collaborative set "The Colors EP." You can hear me, Katie, sing on "You Said."

February 27, 2009
Rabbit Hole was amazing! Thanks to Christian Gibbs, Brittain Ashford and Zeke Healy, who all performed.

December 20, 2008
Check out the Christmas music section! "Still, Still, Still" is our gift to you this year!

December 1, 2008
Yes, we're recording a new Christmas song. We saw it on your list, and checked it twice!

November 20, 2008
James Apollo's "Angels We Have Grown Apart" is finished and pressed on vinyl. You can also download and hear the whole EP here, for free. Yours truly sings on three of the tracks, including a duet on "Sleepyeye." Enjoy! James is a jewel in a room full of not-jewels.

August 31, 2008
Whoa like whoa we're ReverbNation's featured artist of the week!

July 29, 2008
Sadly, we are losing our drummer Phil Matthews to the wiles of Georgetown academia. We need a new drummer. Got any ideas?

May 22, 2008
I kept meaning to tell you, but N&L is featured in the online series "The All-For-Nots." You can hear "Wading" in the episode entitled "Woodstock" and "Dark Adam" somewhere else, apparently.

May 7, 2008
Recently recorded some vocals on James Apollo's forthcoming EP. And now the dude wants me to go and sing with him at Union Pool on May 21! Then he moves to Seattle. That blows. Come catch him before he leaves!

April 27, 2008
Because he is a gentleman and scholar, Aaron Williamson helped set up a guestbook for all you fine folks who have a hand-numbered CD.

April 16, 2008
YOU DAMNED MONSTERS. You and all of your friends made our CD release really really special. We literally ran out of CDs to give out, so I guess we'll have to make more. If your friends want a CD, just tell me. Really. It's that easy. Thank you a million times for making this the best show of N&L's existence.

April 13, 2008
We release our self-titled, self-released effort, our first record ever, tonight at the Mercury Lounge. Bring all of your friends.

March 21, 2008
Today is Good Friday, two days before Easter. Here's a song I wrote to meditate on the day; I hope you enjoy it.

Feb. 13 , 2008
Friends, thank you muchly for your support at our last show at Pianos. It was pretty much the best birthday ever. We had a great turnout and even some good press!

Jan. 18, 2008
Numbers And Letters is on Facebook now!

Jan. 7, 2008
Katie is singing a song or two with James Apollo at his gig on Thursday, Jan. 10 at the Living Room (upstairs) in New York. Show's free and James said he'll shake your hand vigorously if you come check it out.

Dec. 21, 2007
Happy holidays! Check out N&L's recording of "Little Drummer Boy" and all-original "Alleluia Anyway." They're free and drumtastic! (I totally just said that!) What will you bring to the manger, eh? We've finished recording. Eric Feigenbaum is mixing it as we "speak."

BIO

"A nice and wailey sort of alt-Americana, reflecting Kansan roots—which seems to make people a little angsty."—Bklyn Song of the Day

True Americana doesn't often come via New York, but that's exactly what Numbers And Letters has emerged with, spurred on from years of songwriting, drinking, church-attending, pool-playing and living in the former industrial wasteland that is north Brooklyn.

Fronted by singer/songwriter Katie Hasty, Numbers And Letters' songs are sparse, lush and sad, with a tinge of hope that comes from growing up in a flat, quiet place.

When Hasty moved to New York-by-way-of-Chicago-by-way-of-Kansas in 2004 to become an editor at Billboard magazine, she also learned to play guitar and write some songs. After years of studying opera, classical piano and choral music, she abandoned her traditional background.

"I wanted to start doing lean, contemporary songs. I wanted to make pop songs that had a definite start and finish," she says.

Numbers And Letters is a project formed from Hasty's songwriting and a band was formed. Guitarist/noisemaker Clifton Hyde has played with an eclectic array of acts like Sigur Ros, Mandy Moore and Lou Reed, guitarist Joe Lops cut his teeth in a number of bands in Portland, Maine. Drummer Adam Blake also plays with New York band the Films and bassist Cassidy Holden has played more shows in the past year than there are days in the year, with jazz and classical troupes.

Armed with a notebook at all times to jot down lyrics as they strike, Hasty pulls from the spirit of acts like Emmylou Harris, M. Ward, Califone, Nick Drake, Will Oldham, Feist, Whiskeytown and Nina Nastasia.

Numbers And Letters' debut self-titled EP was recorded by Sammy Rubin (Project Jenny, Project Jan) throughout 2007 at Music For Picture in Manhattan. Eric Feigenbaum (Gordon Gano, Lowry) put the final touches on the mix; "Numbers And Letters" was released April 13, 2008.

"Most songs are relationship-driven, made-up memories, friendships, loss, reflection... about God, faith, death and sex," Hasty says. "I pick a topic and find the my best or least favorite memory of it to lock it into that theme."

by Molly Brown

SHOWS