Named for the West Texas sandhills, Austin-based Monahans began in 2006 as an offshoot project by Milton Mapes collaborators Greg Vanderpool, Roberto Sanchez, Jim Fredley and Britton Beisenherz. As Monahans, the group expanded on their landscape rock-and-roll with an intense, rhythmic, yet decisively apolitical pulse.

The band's first release, Low Pining (Undertow 2007), was born mostly out of nameless instrumental soundtracks (Explosions In The Sky meets Califone) and later weaved with lyrical strands of detachment and Cold War Era urgency in the spirit of early U2, R.E.M., The Police and everyone's hero, Neil Young.

With the consistent support of regional radio airplay, the record gradually found its way to various year-end favorites lists. Magnet Magazine listed Low Pining as one of its "10 Hidden Treasures of 2007" and Harp Magazine called it an "under-the-radar gem".