Good Records Recordings

Preteen Zenith was an album before it was a band. DeLaughter was writing and recording demos of new songs in early 2009, documenting ideas for what may have been a new Polyphonic Spree album or a solo album. Around this time, Karnats (who has also played with Secret Machines and Ike Reilly, and released a solo album on Good Records Recordings in 2006) invited DeLaughter to Chicago to do some improvising and recording.

Unbeknownst to DeLaughter, his wife and longtime collaborator/co-conspirator Julie Doyle decided to share the barebones demos with Karnats, figuring that they could use a "plan b" in case the improvised sessions didn't pan out. By the time DeLaughter embarked to Chicago, Karnats had fallen in love with the demos, and greeted DeLaughter with a variety of ideas on how to build on them.

DeLaughter arrived in Karnats' home studio with a station wagon full of gear, and they burned the midnight oil for 17 days. A second, 10-day session followed at Walshtown Retreat Cabin near Memphis, a backwoods cabin that they transformed into a functioning studio with isolations booths and tracking rooms. In between a few fishing excursions, more songs were recorded, and a brand new one was written. The songs began to take shape as something different than a solo album or a Polyphonic Spree album, and a new band was born.

In the spring of 2011, Gorilla Vs. Bear blogger Chris Cantalini was organizing a festival at the Granada Theater in Dallas, and called DeLaughter to ask about the new project he'd heard rumors about. In July, Preteen Zenith made its live debut (and only performance to date, though more shows are in the works for this summer) at the Gorilla Vs. Bear Festival with a stunning light show and six-member lineup. "Overwhelming as the visual bombast was, the music was perfectly suited to it," wrote the Dallas Observer in a review of the set. "Chaotic and loud as it got, the ear-candy melodies were always discernable. Dynamic, too: Songs would build up from DeLaughter's solitary plinking of pretty piano melodies and burst into chest-thumping, head-pounding storms of noise."

In November 2011, Preteen Zenith released its first song, "Breathe," in conjunction with the relaunch of DeLaughter and Doyle's independent label, Good Records Recordings.

Track Listing:

1. Breathe
2. Relief
3. Damage Control (featuring Erykah Badu) 
4. Life
5. Peddling
6. Maker
7. Meat
8. Overcome
9. Late (Available on album only)