In Medias Res (band) - Studio Releases

Studio Releases

After selling out 500 copies of their second EP, Intimacy, In Medias Res independently released Of What Was, their first full-length album, in April 2003 to favourable local reviews. Distributed by Vancouver's Scratch Records, In Medias Res sold out their initial 1,000 copies of the album within a year-and-a-half, before re-releasing it under local label Anniedale Records on May 24, 2005. (By the time of their next full-length release in January 2011, Of What Was sold over 2,000 copies.)

Watts has described the album as a turning point in the band's musical identity, referring to their previous work as more characteristic of their collective stylistic taste in such bands as Pedro the Lion and Radiohead. It was produced by Jonathan Anderson of Jonathan Inc., a fellow Vancouver indie act, who In Medias Res has worked and performed with extensively.

Following their debut LP's re-release under Anniedale, In Medias Res took six years to put forth their next effort, sparking rumours of the band's dissolution during the period in between. Lee later commented on the band's seeming hiatus, stating that they were in "too comfortable" a state that "didn't require to push." He added that "We had to field all kinds of rumours as people wondered if were still together, which didn't help the situation that was brewing internally." In 2006, an article featuring an interview with In Medias Res stated that the band was working on new material. Leading up to their second LP, the band made a new 11-minute track entitled "The Dark Crystal" available for download on Bandcamp.com. Released on December 15, 2010, the band allowed the track to be purchased on a name-your-price basis. "The Dark Crystal" was recorded Mushroom Studios (Vancouver) in 2008 and featured cover art re-appropriated from a Norwegian photographer. Watt declared it in an earlier interview as "one of the best pieces ever written/recorded."

The following month, nearly eight years after the initial release of their first LP, In Medias Res digitally self-released It Was Warm And Sunny When We First Set Out on January 4, 2011. The 10-track album was recorded primarily at Mushroom Studios and Sapphire Sound in Vancouver, while being produced once more by Jonathan Anderson, who also contributed vocals and instrumentals for the album, as well as Dave Carswell and John Collins. Positively reviewed by local publications, including The Georgia Straight and The Vancouver Sun, the album was categorized as post-rock, yielding "atypical pop song structures" and stylistic comparisons to Radiohead and Coldplay. Tracks "Final Flight of the Bees", "This Could Be The One" and "Tonight I Am New" were consistently singled out as album highlights by reviewers. On June 23, In Medias Res signed with Vancouver label File Under: Music, facilitating the hard-copy release of It Was Warm and Sunny 18 days later. Several months later, in October 2011, they released a music video for "Hollis", the eighth track on the album. A second music video was releasd in conjunction with their March 2012 tour for "This Could Be The One". Produced by Flowers, the video featured a schizophrenic friend of the band bodybuilding.

Following drummer Steve Watts' departure from the band (in order to pursue his studies in Scotland; he was replaced by Roberto Tornroos), In Medias Res began to experiment with a more ambient sound. Featuring a lap steel guitar, keyboard and synthesized beats, the band released Variations on March 3, 2012. The two-track EP contained re-arrangements of "Come Back Down" and "The Dark Crystal". It was recorded live off the floor at Buena Vista Studios (Vancouver) by Anderson.

Two years after It Was Warm and Sunny, the band released "The Center", a track intended for the second LP, but was ultimately left out.