Pocahaunted
Wed 11 Feb 2009
The Devil Wears Pink Fairy Boots
Pocahaunted is the work of two cute L.A girls named Bethnay and Amanda. Popular New York indie music website Tiny Mix Tapes describes the girls as “the Olsen Twins of Drone”; together the girls make dark, tribal noise pop (if that makes sense) that takes you deep within your own consciousness due to its ghostly whispering tones. Since the band’s inception, they have been an integral part of the L.A music scene, based around the all-ages venue The Smell. There the band has played many shows and made many friends, including Randy and Dean from No Age. Both bands have also released material through the same label, L.A-based Teenage Teardrops.
Listening to Pocahaunted you would easily believe the band is inspired by African tribal music or indeed some sort of indigenous culture, but no; the band apparently listens to a lot of soul and jazz music and has a huge admiration for Tom Tom Club’s sweet pop goodness. This may (in a round about way) explain the band’s cross over into more accessible musical arenas, but gives little indication as to why they enjoy making such medieval, Gothic inspired music. Perhaps I need to interview the band to find that out.
When it comes to recording, Bethnay and Amanda have quite a unique back catalog, including cassettes, 7″ LPs, split 7″s, one-sided singles and two full-length LPs. Their debut LP Chains was released last year and their second (Passage) is ready to drop any day now on the wonderful Troubleman Unlimited label. A couple of days ago I somehow came across their latest cassette called Gold Miner’s Daughters, featuring three brand new Pocahaunted tracks. It was this little uncovered treasure that inspired me to write this piece and share one of those new tracks. If you’re interested in buying any of the band’s material, I have linked to the various record labels throughout this post.
Posted by Nick Fulton under Los Angeles
