Pleasant Grove so named for a Dallas, Texas suburb, was formed by co-vocalists / guitarists Bret Egner and Marcus Striplin. They were drawn together by a vision to write and play music that captured raw melancholy melodies laid out over slow spacious rhythmic harmonies. The Art of Leaving is a mesmerizing set of songs – gut-wrenching, sophisticated, built up from the barest arrangement to an often explosive climax- while echoing dense layers of sound and devices.