With a gentle balance of vintage folk-rock and British shoegaze influences, the Zephyrs emerged from Edinburgh, Scotland in the late '90s. Sharing common collaborators with Glasgow's Mogwai on early releases, they made their full-length debut in 1999 with It's OK Not to Say Anything. The group made a subtle shift toward a more muscular sound on its still languid fifth album, 2010's Fool of Regrets.

The sons of a rock musician, Stuart and David Nicol grew up playing music together before founding the Zephyrs, which they named after their father's band from the '70s. The brothers' first album was recorded by Mogwai producer/engineer Michael Brennan, Jr. and featured Stuart on lead vocals and guitar, David on bass, and Gordon Kilgour on drums as well as guests including the Cowdenbeath Brass Band and Gordon's brother Jonathan Kilgour on guitar. Titled It's OK Not to Say Anything, it got a limited release on Edinburgh label Evol in 1999. The album came to the attention of Mogwai themselves, and the Zephyrs were signed to the band's Rock Action label, an imprint of SouthPaw Records. The label released their Stargazer EP in 2000 and sophomore LP When the Sky Comes Down It Comes Down on Your Head in 2001. The latter received very little promotion due to the label folding within days of its release.

The Madrid-based Acuarela label stepped in to issue the EP The Love That Will Guide You Back Home in 2002. The band then signed with Setanta for 2003's Year to the Day, which saw the Nicols joined by both of the Kilgours, multi-instrumentalists Cian Ciárán and Michael Cochrane, and guests on various orchestral instruments. The Nicols assembled a completely different backing band for their fourth album, Bright Yellow Flowers on a Dark Double Bed. It followed on Acuarela in 2005. With the exception of a performance at a festival in Spain in 2008, the band was essentially inactive for the next four years.

The group eventually returned to the studio with Michael Brennan, Jr. to record Fool of Regrets, released by Club AC30 in 2010. It was accompanied by a tour of the U.K. The Zephyrs took more time off, then reconvened in 2014 with another new lineup to play some shows and start writing material for their next album. They eventually re-emerged in 2018 with the two-track release The Witches and The Crown Prince of Lies, issued by Acuarela. ~ Marcy Donelson, Rovi