The Curtains were founded in the Oakland / San Francisco Bay Area in the year 2000 by ex-Deerhoof bassist/guitarist Chris Cohen and Trevor Shimizu. Beginning as a strictly instrumental group, The Curtains now make smart but sparse lo-fi folk-pop with minimum of effort and maximum effectiveness. Influenced by film soundtracks, TV jingles, West Coast jazz and early electronic music, the Curtains gradually branched out to vocal- and more rock-based music over the years