With the help of friend and engineer Steve Christensen, this material was turned into a 6-song EP entitled The Meat of the Fruit,[1] which featured a variety of instruments played by Boulanger, accompanied by female guest vocals.

There, they met drummer Travis Hackett and bassist Brandi Dipietro through mutual friends and began performing live as a four-piece with Boulanger and Page sometimes using up to five synthesizers on stage between them.

After only a handful of shows together, the group quickly recorded debut album Received in Bitterness in the laundry room of their French Place home and hit the road on a 13-city winter tour up the East Coast in January 2009.

Shortly after, bassist Brandi Dipietro left the band, causing The Sour Notes to incorporate live electronics and sequenced bass parts during shows.

The Sour Notes added keyboardist Elaine Greer to the band during the recording of their synth-heavy second album It's Not Gonna Be Pretty,[3] which was released in January 2010 to much critical acclaim.

The album was released that September at Cheer Up Charlies in Austin to glowing reviews and featured many local guest musicians, including Sabrina Ellis of A Giant Dog, who sang on the title track.

[18] The album features covers of songs by Galaxie 500, Radiohead, The Beatles, Sleater-Kinney, The Ronettes, Patti Smith, Wire, Jawbreaker, Beyoncé, Neil Young and was made available as a free download on SoundCloud.