Losing The Argument.

Bad news, power pop fans: The Argument is breaking up. Here is their statement, posted at their site:

To our fans:

Since you all have supported us so much in the past 9 years,
we wanted you to be the first to know that the members of
the Argument have mutually agreed to dissolve the band.
I know this may come as a surprise to a lot of people but
this is not one person's decision. This is a group decision
based on what we've accomplished as a band and what we'd
like to accomplish individually.

The four of us started in 1997 in a rehearsal space on the
campus of West Va University. And now nearly 9 years later,
we've toured 25 states, performed for thousands and
thousands of people, sold approximately 12,000 cds, ruined 3
vans and I don't even know how many shows we've played.
We've showcased privately for the CEO's of two major labels
and did countless shows for many other music industry types.
At this point, the four of us needed to make a decision for
the Argument and for ourselves individually what would be
best.

There are too many people to thank and it would be
impossible to mention everyone, but believe me when I say
that we honestly owe SO many people in SO many places a huge
amount of gratitude.

Our remaining show schedule is below and we would love to
see you at our final shows. We will definitely keep you
posted on any future announcements and/or projects involving
members of the Argument.

Until then, thank you so much for your continued support...
Brent, Chris, Matt and Scott
the Argument

In case you're not familiar with them, The Argument has been an outstanding power pop band of recent years, with two albums and an EP under their belt (along with a great cover of the Cars' "Hello Again" that leads off the Substitution Mass Confusion tribute disc). They debuted with Your New Favorite Band, an album I have to confess I'm not familiar with (but need to seek out). In 2004, they came into their own with the brilliant Recess Serenade, which Bruce at Not Lame compared to "The Tories, Fountains Of Wayne, Jellyfish, very poppy Weezer, (and) Ben Folds". It was worthy of those names, and they followed it up with a self-titled EP that came out last summer which was more of the (quite excellent) same. We'll miss ya, guys.

Recess Serenade is available at eMusic, their myspace page is here, and all three of the discs are available from the usual suspects. I know they're breaking up, but their limited body of work is worth adding to your collection.