What happens when the guy who fronts everyone's favorite Chicago punk rock underdogs, The Lawrence Arms, finds himself with an album's worth of material too melodic and sparse for his Fat Wreck Chords-backed day job? Well, he forms the band Sundowner, calls up his buddies at Atlas Studios and Red Scare and puts out Four One Five Two, the most ass-kickinest, dick-slappinist good time this side of sitting around and crying into your glass over the unrequited love of a girl who doesn't even know you're alive. Chris McCaughan has long been the introspective side of the Arms, and as this debut album proves, the indie world has been hurting for a record that showcases Chris's sweet voice and acoustic guitar chops throughout, without the nuisance of the screechy guy. Well, the hurtin's almost over, because Four One Five Two (so named for his parent's address, where he lived when he wrote the record) drops on March 13th, courtesy of the nefarious batch of total assholes at Red Scare Industries.

While The Lawrence Arms were busy touring in support of their critically acclaimed 2006 album, Oh! Calcutta! (over 30 critic's "Best Of 2006" lists, anyone?), McCaughan was taking time during their already hectic tour schedule to visit coffee shops and bookstores before the gigs to play by himself, armed only with his acoustic guitar, his voice, and a collection of songs that didn't appear anywhere except for on his personal MySpace page. As the Arms gained more momentum, so did the reputation of Chris's solo shows, which grew from intimate gatherings into packed sing-alongs. With this, McCaughan renamed his internet nerd profile Sundowner, began talking to big wheel record execs and famed studio players and underwent the conceptualization that would transform acoustic coffee shop buskering into a fully realized project.

Well, when the shit finally went down, big wheel record execs and famed studio players were abandoned in favor of good friends, more good friends, and a few margaritas. Fellow Chicagoan, Jenny Choi, most famous for her studio work with Asian Man Records' Mike Park, lent her cello, voice, keyboard, and glockenspiel to McCaughan's vision; and fellow Lawrence Arm, Neil Hennessy supplied the bass. Together, they traveled deep into the mines of Atlas Studios (Alkaline Trio, Methadones, The Lawrence Arms, etc.) in Chicago to forge Four One Five Two with Hennessy shouldering the engineering duties and his trusty steed Matt Allison assisting. The results yield twelve haunting tracks that showcase McCaughan as much more than a screamer and powerchordist, but as a singer-songwriter of surprising subtlety who works with the instrumentation of Hennessy and Choi to create an earnest sensibility that really shines on fan favorites like "Sea of Lights" and "Steal Your Words", and which will surprise even the most jaded Lawrence Arms fan when applied to Sundowner's versions of a pair of Arms tunes that appear in this collection: "Boatless Booze Cruise" and "100 Resolutions".

Chris has been playing shows as Sundowner for longer than he's even had a band or a band name, and now with a debut like Four One Five Two, he's showing no signs of slowing down. Expect national touring, more shows during Lawrence Arms tours, and a slew of fawning ladies. Also, he would love to get to Australia, where he can practice being a sundowner himself, which in the local parlance "Down Under' means "hobo". Of course.