The Disparities make bittersweet rock songs with guitars and computers and things like that.

It all began in the late nineties, in the untamed suburbs of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Lifelong brothers Oliver and Julian Lemke, encouraged by the home recordings of their uncle, took it into their heads to record fragments of rhythm and melody on an old boom box with a built-in microphone. Youthful ambition led them to try such dubious techniques as bouncing audio between the tape player and a Dictaphone to create “multitrack” recordings. This practice came to an end when kind relatives took pity on the brothers and bought them a Portastudio and two microphones.

The early four-track adventures were a crime against art and nature, but they laid the groundwork for a fruitful songwriting and recording partnership. The band's style developed from genre-less noise into recognizable indie rock with a strong melodic streak. After acquiring the cheapest digital audio gear that money could buy, the boys produced their first real CD album, "Happily Ever After the Fact," released in 2004 with a handmade pressing of about ten copies.

During the following two years, Oliver and Julian filled up many notebooks with incrementally better songs, and younger brother Harrison joined them, adding mandolin, banjo and violin to the instrumental arsenal. In 2006 the band (then called The Starving Artists) released their more mature second album, the folk-rock inflected "All's Well Enough."

In 2008, despite attending school in different states, the trio came together over breaks to write and record their most ambitious and definitive work yet: a 13-song concept album entitled "No More Beautiful Days," on which every member wrote, sang, and played multiple instruments.

After a hiatus of nearly a year, the boys are back together and hard at work on a new album, "Holidays in the Void," to be released in 2011.

The Disparities are:
Oliver Lemke: vocals, guitar, keyboards, bass, drums, sampling and programming.
Julian Lemke: vocals, guitar, piano, bass.
Harrison Lemke: [no longer a full-time member]. sampling, programming.

Influences: The Posies, Radiohead, Aphex Twin, The Flaming Lips, Mark Kozelek, Built to Spill, Bloc Party, Wire, Joy Division, Gang of Four.