It was the most-talked about story for a very specific subset of indie-pop fans a month ago: an Instagram account for The Format was spotted. From 2002 to 2008, The Format were the band for lovers of ornately-crafted pop/rock that borrowed from turn of the century alternative stylings and baroque pop of the '60s and '70s in equal measure. Was a reunion imminent?

That question has yet to be answered definitively - though it sure looks like they did yesterday at an event we'll discuss in a moment - but those looking to rediscover (or discover!) the group are in luck: their discography is being reissued on vinyl with a pair of new catalog additions.

Nate Ruess and Sam Means, both friends since their grade school days in Arizona, charmed lovers of Nilsson, ELO and/or Dashboard Confessional literally from "The First Single." After a brief dalliance with Warner Music Group for their proper debut Interventions + Lullabies and an EP between 2003 and 2005, The Format acquired the masters to their second album, Dog Problems, and issued it for free through their own Vanity Label, part of a deal with Canada's Nettwerk Records.

Of course, Ruess became even better known after The Format's 2008 hiatus with fun., the band he formed with multi-instrumentalists Andrew Dost (of Anathallo) and Jack Antonoff (of Steel Train). The group's second album, 2012's Some Nights, was a runaway success: "We Are Young" topped the Billboard Hot 100 for six weeks after appearing in a Super Bowl commercial, and the title track soon peaked at No. 3. fun. won Grammy Awards for Song of the Year and Best New Artist before calling it quits themselves; Ruess issued the solo album Grand Romantic in 2015. (Antonoff, who records under the name Bleachers, is as much of a household name as a producer can be, collaborating with pop and rock hitmakers including Taylor Swift, Lorde, St. Vincent, Carly Rae Jepsen and Lana Del Rey.)

But The Format have risen again - at least on vinyl - with new LP pressings of Interventions + Lullabies and Dog Problems, their 2002 debut EP, 2005's Snails EP and the 2007 collection B-Sides and Rarities, all pressed on black vinyl. (Dog Problems and B-Sides and Rarities are each double LP sets, while the debut EP is 10" vinyl to the others' 12" pressings.) But that's not all: a 2007 gig at the Mayan Theatre in Los Angeles, filmed for a DVD, also bows as two separate vinyl sets - one covering Dog Problems in album order across two bone-colored 12" discs, the other containing a nine-song encore on one Coke bottle-green 12". The set also makes its streaming debut (both audio and video) today, one day after a limited viewing party in Phoenix attended by both Ruess and Means - who (surprise!) played an acoustic set excerpted in tweets above.

All the vinyl as detailed can be ordered through the band's official merch store here or at Amazon below.

EP (originally released as Western Tread WT-001, 2002) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

1. The First Single
2. At The Wake
3. One Shot, Two Shots
4. Let's Make This Moment a Crime
5. Even Better Yet

Interventions + Lullabies (originally released as Elektra 62685, 2003) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

1. The First Single (You Know Me)
2. Wait, Wait, Wait
3. Give It Up
4. Tie The Rope
5. Tune Out
6. I'm Ready, I Am
7. On Your Porch
8. Sore Thumb
9. A Mess To Be Made
10. Let's Make This Moment a Crime
11. Career Day
12. A Save Situation

Snails EP (originally released as Atlantic 40411, 2005) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

1. Janet
2. Snails
3. Wait, Wait, Wait (Acoustic)
4. Tune Out (Acoustic)
5. On Your Porch (Acoustic)
6. Dear Boy
7. Your New Name

Tracks 6-7 originally only available as digital download

Dog Problems (originally released as The Vanity Label 0 6700 30592 2 0, 2006) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

1. Matches
2. I'm Actual
3. Time Bomb
4. She Doesn't Get It
5. Pick Me Up
6. Dog Problems
7. Oceans
8. Dead End
9. Snails
10. The Compromise
11. Inches and Falling
12. If Work Permits

B-Sides and Rarities (originally released as The Vanity Label 0 6700 30592 2 2, 2007) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

1. You're Not a Whore
2. For You
3. Faith In Fast Cars
4. Seven Digit Pin Code (Demo)
5. A Good Time At Your Expense (Demo)
6. Threes (Demo)
7. Do You Believe In Magic?
8. Dear Boy (Demo)
9. Dead End (Demo)
10. Time Bomb (Demo)
11. If Work Permits (Demo)
12. Matches (Acoustic)
13. I'm Actual (Demo)
14. The Lottery Song
15. Glutton Of Sympathy
16. 1,000 Umbrellas
17. Apeman
18. Does Your Cat Have a Mustache?

Swans (originally released as The Vanity Label (no. cat. #), 2016 - same track on both sides)

Live At The Mayan Theatre: Dog Problems (The Vanity Label, 2020 - same track list as Dog Problems) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Live At The Mayan Theatre: Encore (The Vanity Label, 2020) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

1. Tie The Rope
2. Tune Out
3. Janet
4. Give It Up
5. Wait, Wait, Wait
6. I'm Ready, I Am
7. On Your Porch
8. Swans
9. The First Single