Her Wallpaper Reverie is the third album from The Apples in Stereo

The Apples in Stereo

The Apples in Stereo, styled The Apples in stereo, is an American indie rock band associated with The Elephant Six Collective, a group of bands also including Neutral Milk Hotel and The Olivia Tremor Control. The band is largely a product of lead vocalist/guitarist Robert Schneider, who writes the...

.

The fifteen tracks listed for the album give the impression that it is about the same length as the band's previous two albums, but only seven of the tracks are "actual" songs. The other eight tracks play a variation of the same melody. These eight tracks are treated as musical interludes and are marked with Roman numerals

Roman numerals

The numeral system of ancient Rome, or Roman numerals, uses combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet to signify values. The numbers 1 to 10 can be expressed in Roman numerals as:...

. Most of these interludes range from ten seconds to a minute in length (with the exception of "vi. Drifting Patterns" which is over two and a half minutes long). The result length is 27 minutes.

Critical response to the album was varied. A common criticism was that the album contained too many interludes. (In fact, there are more musical interludes on the album than there are songs.) Pitchfork Media

Pitchfork Media

Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...

, for instance, stated that many of these interludes were "annoying" http://web.archive.org/web/20061117005312/http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/15010/Apples_in_Stereo_Her_Wallpaper_Reverie. However, both fans and critics generally agree that the non-interlude songs are exceptional.

The ultra-psychedelic

Psychedelic

The term psychedelic is derived from the Greek words ψυχή and δηλοῦν , translating to "soul-manifesting". A psychedelic experience is characterized by the striking perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly...

 production of the album enticed critics to make comparisons to popular albums by The Beatles

The Beatles

The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...

 and The Beach Boys

The Beach Boys

The Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...

.

Track listing

All tracks written by Robert Schneider

Robert Schneider

Robert Peter Schneider is one of the co-founders of The Elephant 6 Recording Company, along with Will Cullen Hart, Bill Doss, and Jeff Mangum...

 except where noted.

1. "i. Her Room Is A Rainy Garden (Wallpaper Reverie Theme)" – 0:11
2. "ii. Morning Breaks (And Roosters Complain)" – 0:21
3. "The Shiney Sea" – 3:40
4. "iii. The Significance Of A Floral Print" – 0:37
5. "Strawberryfire" – 4:27
6. "iv. From Outside, In Floats A Music Box" – 1:00
7. "Ruby" – 3:08
8. "v. She Looks Through Empty Windows" – 0:14
9. "Questions and Answers" (H. Sidney
   Hilarie Sidney
   Hilarie Sidney is a musician most famously recognized as the longtime drummer for The Apples in Stereo. She was previously married to Apples in Stereo frontman and Elephant 6 co-founder Robert Schneider. Their divorce became publicly acknowledged in 2004...
   
   ) – 2:53
10. "vi. Drifting Patterns" – 2:44
11. "Y2K" – 2:23
12. "vii. Les Amants" – 0:33
13. "Benefits of Lying (With Your Friend)" – 3:35
14. "Ruby, Tell Me" – 1:00
15. "viii. Together They Dream Into The Evening" – 0:14

Alternate release bonus tracks

The Australian and Japanese versions of Her Wallpaper Reverie contain five bonus tracks. The first four were later released on the Look Away + 4

Look Away + 4

Look Away + 4 is the third EP from The Apples in Stereo. It contains five songs, featuring the song "Look Away" from the album The Discovery of a World Inside the Moone...

EP.

• "Behind The Waterfall"
• "Everybody Let Up"
• "Her Pretty Face"
• "The Friar's Lament"
• "Extended Introduction"

In addition, both the Australian and Japanese editions have different color schemes for the album artwork, Japan's being blue and yellow, Australia's being orange and red. There is also an alternate UK cover that is pink and green.

"The Orchestra"

• John Hill
  John Hill (musician)
  John Hill is an American guitarist best recognized as a member of The Apples in Stereo and Dressy Bessy.Hill, a college friend of drummer Hilarie Sidney and bassist Jim McIntyre, joined The Apples in January, 1994 after the departure of lead guitarist Chris Parfitt...
  
   - electric and acoustic guitars, backing vocals, handclaps, tape manipulation
• Hilarie Sidney
  Hilarie Sidney
  Hilarie Sidney is a musician most famously recognized as the longtime drummer for The Apples in Stereo. She was previously married to Apples in Stereo frontman and Elephant 6 co-founder Robert Schneider. Their divorce became publicly acknowledged in 2004...
  
   - drums, lead and backing vocals, electric guitar, percussion
• Eric Allen - electric bass, backing vocals, tape loops, handclaps
• Chris McDuffie
  Chris McDuffie
  Chris McDuffie is an American musician. A keyboardist, he performed with the Elephant 6 band The Minders and appeared on their 1996 debut EP Come On and Hear. McDuffie later became a member of The Apples in Stereo, first appearing on the album Her Wallpaper Reverie in 1999...
  
   - organ, upright piano, synthesizer, backing vocals, percussion, clipclops, clavinet
• Robert Schneider
  Robert Schneider
  Robert Peter Schneider is one of the co-founders of The Elephant 6 Recording Company, along with Will Cullen Hart, Bill Doss, and Jeff Mangum...
  
   - electric and acoustic guitars, lead and backing vocals, upright and toy pianos, synthesizer, percussion

"Supporting Players"

• Rick Benjamin - trombone
• Merisa Bissinger - saxophone
• Scott Spillane - flugelhorn
• Josh Johnson - backing vocals, handclaps
• Tammy Ealom - backing vocals, handclaps
• Jim McIntyre
  Jim McIntyre (musician)
  Jim McIntyre is a musician best known as the man behind the Elephant 6 band Von Hemmling. He was also the original bassist for The Apples in Stereo before leaving in 1993. He has written or co-written many early songs for the band, including "Stop Along the Way", "Touch The Water", "To Love The...
  
   - backing vocals, handclaps

Production

Her Wallpaper Reverie was produced and mixed by Robert Schneider and engineered by the Apples in Stereo. Jim McIntyre acted as executive producer. The album was recorded and mixed at Pet Sounds Recording Studio, Denver, Colorado

Denver, Colorado

The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...

 from January to March, 1999 (with the exception of "Morning Breaks" and "Benefits of Lying", which were recorded during 1997).

Artwork for the album was created by William Cullen Hart. Layout by Joel Marowitz.