Pretty Balanced played from Nov 2004 to Feb 2010. For the last nine months of their existence, they were known as The Alphabet. They showcased a new sound that's been called piano chamber rock, rock electronica, and finally by the band, Ctrl+Alt+tronica: the amalgamation of classical instruments, primarily piano, violin, double bass, and contemporary ones- vocals, drums and plenty of electronics. On 18 April 2009, the band announced on its site that it was no longer Pretty Balanced, but would instead be performing under the name The Alphabet. On the band's website, Shimer says "it was a long time coming; we talked about it for well over a year and finally settled on one we all really loved. one of the main beefs with "pretty balanced" was that people had a hard time remembering it (got a lot of "perfectly balance" and stuff) and also, it was a little complacent for what we've become. and as anna maria stjarnell pointed out in her review on collected sounds, "pretty balanced make an album that is anything but." she meant it as a compliment, and we took it that way. it is good to be excitingly funny-looking and terrifyingly aschew." On 17 February 2010, Jude announced on their blog for side project The Sneaky Mister that the band had recently dissolved. The musicians were Jude Shimer (also of The Sneaky Mister), Forest Christenson (also of Solarist, formerly The Liberty Tax), and Parker Ross.