Their publicist describes their sound as “slacker-fuzzed lullabies.” The band tends to prefer the term “mid-fi.”
The duo known as Tape Deck Mountain began by releasing all their recordings on cassette tapes. Travis Trevisan plays guitar and sings lead, while Paul Remund plays drums and other accompanying instruments, mainly keyboards. Bassist Jordan Clark also fronts the Feelings Mutual. Redmund also plays with Chairs Missing.
A professional graphic artist, Travis Trevisan - who also creates the band's artwork and promotional materials - says he was inspired to become a musician after seeing his first concert, the Smashing Pumpkins. His first band Liberty Park had to change their name after Linkin Park hit, to instead be called Holiday Minor.
He has also played with Lost Companions International, First Wave Hello, Long Live Logos, Redstone Arsenal, and Holiday Minor.
The debut Tape Deck Mountain EP Sparks was produced by Keith Milgaten (Vision of a Dying World, Jamuel Saxon), as were several remix tapes. Their full-length album Ghost was released in late 2009.
In 2010, the band made their first appearance at the annual SXSW music fest in Austin, Texas. Their Secret Serf EP was released in January 2011, opening with a rock opera-style tune P.I., concerning the misadventures of a particularly shady private investigator.
The four songs explore themes of poverty and privacy, perhaps inspired by frontman Travis Trevisan’s 2010 bout with unemployment, where he worked various under-the-table jobs extending from working for the repo man to pulling his elderly neighbors’ weeds. Sonically, the Secret Serf EP finds the band more focused, exploring and expanding their sound.
The band played SXSW again in March, 2011. Later that year, Trevisan relocated to Austin, Texas, and then New York City, while Paul Remund moved to L.A. (temporarily) to focus on Chairs Missing. Trevisan kept the band name active with other members, with whom he recorded new tracks after returning to San Diego in summer 2012.
Remund put Chairs Missing to sleep in favor of Cathedral X, though he quit the costume-and-theatrics heavy psych-rock band in early 2013 to relocate to New York City (behind former Tape Deck bandmate Travis Trevisan) and to build up his Casio keyboard-based solo project Light Vision.
The 2013 Tape Deck Mountain album Sway, featuring ten songs mostly written during Trevisan’s year-long stay in Austin, Texas with drummer John Momberg (ex-Appleseed Cast) and finalized at American Sound Studios in San Diego, was previewed in May by the single “Always Lie.” The album dropped in October via Trevisan’s own imprint label, Nineteen98.
Their 2018 album Echo Chamber Blues featured Travis Trevisan backed by drummer Andy Gregg (recruited via CraigsList) and Nashville bassist Sully Kincaid, along with guest guitarist Greg Harp. The Scene named the foursome Best Shoegazers in a 2018 Best of Nashville issue.
Their fourth album True Deceiver dropped in may 2021.