VANDAVEER is the alt-folk song-singing/record making/globetrotting project penned and put forth by DC-by-way-of-Kentucky tunesmith Mark Charles Heidinger. The son of a preacher whose father was a gambler whose father was both judge and US congressman, Mark Charles one day found himself in possession of a golden pocket watch owned, wound, and regularly counseled by each in this paternal line. On the backside of said watch was a family name engraved, passed down for a century or more like the timepiece that followed. The name was Vandaveer. Vandaveer’s debut album, Grace & Speed, a mostly live, stripped down affair, swiftly entered this great big dusty world in the spring of 2007. The press responded heartily, with The Washington Post saying Vandaveer “revives the earnestness of the pre-psychedelic 60’s,” and XM Cafe calling him “this generation’s Nick Drake.” Touring continually on both sides of the Atlantic ever since, Vandaveer has played 250+ shows, sharing stages with a host of humbling artists including Bon Iver, Vetiver, Alela Diane, Alejandro Escovedo, Vashti Bunyan, Bill Callahan, Fleet Foxes, and the like. In addition to said Vandaveering, Mark Charles has been known to fraternize and conspire with other music-making hooligans, primarily as a bassist for fellow DCers These United States. Vandaveer’s sophomore effort, Divide & Conquer, touches upon similar themes found in its elder sibling, winding timeworn themes of love & death, malice & goodwill, sin & perseverance into (mostly) four-minute vignettes. To see D&C; through, Vandaveer enlisted the able assistance of longtime collaborator and producer Duane Lundy, brothers-in-arms/These United States bandmates Robby Cosenza and Justin Craig, and most notably, his fair sister Rose Guerin, supplying the loveliest harmonies this side of Eden. A decidedly more produced venture, D&C; offers up a flourishing chamber folk companion to its bedroomy lo-fi folk/pop predecessor. Released in France in April 2009 on AlterK/Discograph, Divide & Conquer was hailed by Rolling Stone as “jarring new folk”. The US release of Divide & Conquer is August 25th, 2009, on Supply And Demand Music.