Spouse leader and founder Jose Ayerve is not exactly a household name (unless you happen to live in Northampton, MA or Portland, ME). However, you may be familiar with many of the records he's produced and/or engineered over the last few years by The Winterpills, The Pernice Brothers, The Mammals, Erin McKeown, Sometymes Why, and Haunt. After nearly a decade of working behind the scenes, and releasing Spouse's hooky indie rock on his own Pigeon Records label, Ayerve is teaming up with Nine Mile Records to bring his most dramatic work to date into the forefront: Confidence. However, it's clear on the chiming harmonies on the record's opener No Sudden Moves that this is no solo show. Ayerve has assembled several Spouse vets (Ken Maiuri, J.J. O'Connell, Naomi Hamby and Dan Pollard) and put together a band record in the truest sense. Many of the members co-wrote the songs with Ayerve, helped arrange and mix them, and even helped with the art direction. Confidence also adds appearances by frequent Ayerve collaborators Erin McKeown and Mark Mulcahy.