INTERVIEW: Laser Background

photo: Natalie Piserchio

Kelly Kirwan

Andy Molholt’s brand of psych-pop is unexpected and infectious. Taking the name Laser Background for his solo ventures, Molholt’s recent single “Jawbreaker” intertwines lingering, space-age synths with lilting choruses that’ll turn your world into a dreamscape. Turns out Molholt, the man, is just as intriguing and mind-bending as Molholt, the musician. Answering the phone for our interview he said, “I just got really deep and heavy with my landlord, especially on what’s going to happen this century.” What came next were questions of eternal consciousness, kick-ass bands and influences, and his approach to music and the Laser Background platform. It was both trippy and timely—words that I expect could be used for his upcoming EP, Correct. Dive in below and get to know Laser Background’s vibe and philosophy.

ThrdCoast: When did you first become interested in music?

Andy Moholt: That’s a really good question. I was actually really into acting for the beginning half of my life, and thats what I thought I wanted to do, but my dad got me this shitty Yamaha keyboard from the '90s—and I actually use great Yamaha keyboards now from the '80s—but this had a four track recorder built in to it, and I was just curious and fucking around. I guess the first instrument I played was violin in school, and, I don’t know why, if I thought it was lame or I wasn’t into it but I tried to quit immediately.

But I didn’t really take [music] seriously at all until I was like 21, it was just a hobby that I enjoyed, and I think I actually got cast in musicals because I was musically inclined, but then ultimately I exited from acting. Actually, this is pretty cool, my family is from Hungary, and my mom’s half brother who died before I was born, I never got to meet him, but I’m named after him—my middle name is Balazs—I was gifted upon his death his guitar, and you know, my sister’s boyfriend taught me some chords. Also of note is that I recently inherited another of his guitars! This one was hiding in Paris at a family friend's house, and I discovered upon bring it back to the States that it is a seven string Russian guitar. My friend is currently fixing it up for me.

TC: That’s so cool! And how has your musical style changed?

AM: I guess in a weird way it's reverted back to my original state. I’m really influenced by video game music, I loved playing video games, and sometimes, you know, I wonder what my life would be like if I grew up in the forest, just away from pop culture [laughs]. But, like Super Mario/Super Nintendo—Koji Condo is incredibly clever I think, and just those songs you can hear again and again on a loop. But, my dad’s a scientist and my mom’s a veterinarian and they didn’t really play other music for me, it was like Koji Condo and John Lennon [laughs]. Like, I would hear Bruce Springsteen if I went to Kmart or something, but I didn’t have a computer until I was 12 and I didn’t have cable either actually—and maybe this is just the romantic part of me realizing this, but we’re literally the last generation to have that.

TC: Absolutely. We kind of touched on this earlier, but where did you come up with Laser Background? What’s the story and concept behind it?

AM: Well, I guess my original stoned concept for Laser Background was that we are all influenced, for better or worse, by our early childhood. You know, “the sponge of our youth,” and obviously we’re affected by nature vs. nurture but I think nurture has a really big fucking part of it.

TC: When did you move to Philadelphia?

AM: I moved to Philly the summer of 2006, and I moved here specifically to start a band, with Michael Chadwick, who is absolutely to this day my musical soulmate. It was a band called The Armchairs.

TC: Has living in Philly affected you as an artist at all?

AM: Philly influenced me pretty much only in the good friends that I’ve made here. The scene has been kind of transient, and that’s not me dissing it, because it’s actually pretty diverse. But you had Dr. Dog, who sort of paved the way for psych-revival, there were all these bands that were psych-pop and they’re kind of gone now. I actually kind of feel like I’m an outlier in the city almost.

TC: How is writing and performing independently different for you as an artist?

AM: I love collaborating with people and I do it pretty often. I really like playing the songwriter or the conceptual person or just being a player in someone else’s machine, but it’s a little lonelier, I would say, which is not necessarily a bad thing. When I first started writing songs I was sort of terrified of being a songwriter. I didn’t feel comfortable writing drum parts and bass parts and, essentially, I would rely on other people to do those. And it was important for me to grow as an artist in that way.

TC: Who influences you as an artist?

AM: Andy Kaufman—one of my biggest influences, and I’ll say The Kinks or the The Velvet Underground. More contemporarily The Unicorns from Montreal, and Brian Eno, his early stuff like Here Come the Warm Jets and Taking Tiger Mountain, that stuff’s my shit. Oh, and Ween—one of the best bands ever.

TC: From perusing your Facebook page I saw you listed Ray Bradbury as one of your influences, is that true?

AM: Oh, very true. Specifically because that book [Something Wicked This Way Comes] is crazy. The concept behind Laser Background originally was mixing childhood with the psychedelic, and figuring out existence, that sort of thing—which actually had a lot to do with this album. And that book is basically about crazy immortal carnival people that use a carousel to play backwards music and brainwash everyone. So I had read that book and it kind of ties in with this idea, “time dictates all humanity,” and I think we’re really bound by time in a way that we don’t understand. Like, you and I having a conversation that started 20 minutes ago that we cant undo, and time being on a linear spectrum for humans... I’m going on a tangent here, but, we’re the same people that we were when we were children, just our bodies have changed.

photo: Gerard Marcus

TC: How would you describe your sound?

AM: People ask me that all the time, whenever you’re in a band or make art in general. And with the visual it’s a little easier, because you can look at it, and I kind of want to say, I don’t know what do you think I sound like? Not to you, of course, just in general. But, hmm, “what do I sound like?” Here’s my answer: I hope that I sound like something vaguely reminiscent but also new. I want to give people a little piece of something they can hold on to and then yank it away from them. I think people are actually really lazy and it pisses me off. I don’t sit down and say, I’m going to make this type of song, I actually never do that. And a genre is necessary I guess, I actually had to write my own bio, which I really didn’t want to do, but I said “lo-fi sci-fi” which I thought was kind of funny. I mean, it is what is.

But, you know, there are so many options right now and technology is so crazy and I think it’s interesting to fuck with that. So Carlos and Julian from Ava Luna, who I’m serendipitously very good friends with, we worked together—and I’m always trying to be one step ahead of myself—and we recorded in Georgia in a cabin, and I wanted to intentionally limit myself, and give us a framework and work within that.

TC: That’s interesting, because I feel like so many people are trying to add as much as they can and cross over, and you’re being creative by working within a limited structure.

AM: Yeah, I think that’s the problem with our culture, constantly being rewarded for bullshit—like, you put out a tweet and say four people like it, and you think, oh cool! But it means absolutely nothing! And that’s the problem with the internet, it’s amazing and it exists but I feel like it’s Pringles, “once you pop the fun don’t stop.” And we see everything as being fixed, but... everything is this flickering candle you have to appreciate while its there, and I think that makes the best art.

Thats my philosophy in life. I’m not a nihilist but I’m definitely like, “fuck it” [laughs]. Being nihilistic is a problem because its like, no rules, and you should be a good person but at the end of the day you’re just going to die. Sorry, I’m a dark person [laughs].

TC: What was the inspiration for "Jawbreaker?"

AM: The impetus behind "Jawbreaker" is—well, it’s an existential song about a really shitty situation I witnessed with a roommate of mine, that was dear friend, in a horribly toxic relationship with someone who was taking advantage of them. And when you’re in a relationship you make compromises in ways that you don’t even understand, which ties into what I’m saying about time. Life is too short. If you’re in a miserable situation you’ve got to be the one to change it. And I went through an intense relationship, the person was awesome but... if you’re violating aspects of your personality that are detrimental to your life you have to change it and you have to change it for the better. You know, eternity is a human invention, and eternal love we’re sold on since youth, and I think people experience it sometimes but it’s one in a billion. I don’t know, I’ll probably fall in love in the next three years [laughs].

TC: It’s true though, because when you’re in a relationship with anyone—platonically or romantically—you see them through a filter.

AM: Yeah, absolutely, it’s any kind of relationship. It’s funny, maybe in a way that's what being in a relationship is—even friendship or a working relationship.

TC: Were you involved in the music video at all?

AM: Oh, you know, that video was my friend Ross Brubeck, and I basically just said I trust you as an artist to do whatever you want. I like picking artists that I already know and trust and saying okay, you’re going to make something cool, why don’t you take it and run with it. Like, my friend Greg O’Connell directed my new video called "Tropic of Cancer". That is fucking crazy, it's like a 3D full immersion on your iPhone, its going to come out sometime in the next few weeks.

TC: So what did you think of the video after you saw it?

AM: It’s fucking weird, but I like it. I like weird stuff, and on the one hand it’s really serious seeming, especially in the beginning with the girl, and that hand reaching up towards her mouth, but then you have this guy spitting toothpaste into a ghost cup, and okay, that’s absolutely ridiculous [laughs]. But I’m a ridiculous person and I like art imbued with a sense of humor sometimes—art that understands life is frivolous.

TC: Do you have a favorite venue?

AM: There are so many factors, but to be honest, Johnny Brenda’s. I’ve played there more than anywhere else, I’ve played with a bunch of my other friends there, and it’s a home away from home. I’d be remiss not to say it, they’ve just been so good to me. I feel lucky to play there, it’s the best place. And maybe the old warehouse space we lived at in Philly back in like 2009 called The Ox.

TC: What are your goals for the future?

AM: My goals for the future are to do the things that will make me happy and bring me ultimate fruition as a human while helping as many people I can. I care about people. I care about my neighbors, my friends... and you know, my dad was really involved in environmental science and Toms River, and what happened in Toms River, New Jersey, was all these chemicals leaking into the water and everyone got crazy brain cancer and my father was one of the leading people that went in there and said, "this is fucked up." But then I weirdly rationalize it, like everyone needs music—not that everyone needs my music, of course, that’s super pretentious—but like, I make very specific shit that maybe people aren't going to like at all. But if I can succeed in doing my thing and having fun while simultaneously helping people as an artist... yeah, that would be it. 

INTERVIEW: Freind

Laura Kerry

New York’s Freind is one of those bands whose debut release seems to have dropped from out of nowhere and hit the ground running, fully formed and ready to go. Now a group of five—all living in the same neighborhood in Queens—they met through common acquaintances, past schools and camps, and sheer luck, melding together an impressive repertoire of musical tastes into intelligent and experimental psych-rock.

Their first EP, Lemon, came out in January of this year and features five tracks that run the gamut of genres, tones, and meters. Sometimes it floats along like a hazy dream; other times it attacks with noisy screams or slides away in elusive patterns. Smart risk-takers, Freind keeps the listener on the edge of her seat with songs that seem to move towards chaos, but never lose their finely-honed tethers. That feeling, I’ve heard, is even stronger at live shows, one of which Freind will be playing in collaboration with us on May 10 at Palisades in Brooklyn. Before then, I caught up with the band over email to talk about musical Venn diagrams, the anxiety of influence, and a few other things.

ThrdCoast: Let’s start with some basics. Who are you guys and how did you all find each other and start playing together?

Andrew Emge: We're a band that plays varying shades of rock music. We met through mutual friends, a couple schools—mostly fate.

Vanessa Castro: I was introduced to Alex and Andrew through Gus. Jade, who is a close friend of mine from high school, joined when the band’s previous bassist moved out of New York.

Alex Daud: I met Gus at music tech summer camp in eleventh grade.

Gus Callahan: Alex’s summer camp band was called Bong Jovi.

TC: Where are you based now?

AE: New York. We all live in Ridgewood.

TC: Your music pulls together so many different strains of music—punk, psych­-rock, pop, and even a moment of Bossa Nova. Who are some of your greatest influences?

AD: Josie and the Pussycats if Enya joined the band… I'm influenced by women like Annie Clark, Laetitia Sadier, Laurie Anderson, and Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith. I'm also inspired by ambient or textural music like that of Brian Eno, Stars of the Lid, and Julian Lynch, and I employ drones and noise wherever possible, even if they’re buried.

AE: I draw mostly from Stereolab, Deerhunter, Kevin Parker, Broadcast, Can... Also most projects involving Dave Fridmann. I think that shows in our production a bit.

VC: Gus is my muse. But actually, I started playing guitar because of Becca Kauffman. She told me two years ago that she had only started playing guitar two years prior to that, so I decided I had no excuses to not start. She’s just a great performer in general. I try to channel that performative energy when I play.

GC: I listen to a lot of drone and experimental music. Some of the bands that interest all of us seem to pull from a similar palette of ‘60s concrete, library, and experimental electronic music, which all fit into our collage of sound and influence.

Jade: I’m inspired by all the other trans femme performers out there doing their thing and pushing boundaries. I’ve learned a lot from listening to and reading stuff from Elysia Crampton, Juliana Huxtable, Quay Dash, Serena Jara, Anohni... I could list so many more. All of these artists have powerful visions of what the future could be like. As for specific bass playing influence, most of that comes from studying jazz and jamming with people. I like bass lines that are situated in the background, yet have an element of lyricism.

TC: Do you all have similar musical tastes?

VC: We're a large Venn diagram of musical tastes. I think with all five of us together, there isn't a genre that isn't covered; Alex and I are both Brazilian and geek out over Tropicalia music together, and, to the rest of the band’s dismay, Jade and Andrew like to break out in pop-­punk jams during practice. But I think I can say confidently that we’re all big Broadcast fans.

AD: Our interests definitely align in certain areas, but I think we all listen to pretty different music as our go­-tos. In the past months, I’ve pretty much only listened to Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, Incredible String Band, The Books, Baaba Maal, Orchestra Baobab, and ‘60s/’70s Brazilian music. Freind does not sound like any of these artists.

AE: Direct Freind influences aside, lately I’ve been obsessed with Stars of the Lid and the 20-something Studio One compilations put out by Soul Jazz. They sound so good.

GC: I jump around a lot. Recently I’ve been listening to Dialing In, Bitchin Bajas, and Bill Callahan (we aren’t related).

TC: I think that relationships to influences and artistic forebears are always interesting, particularly in more experimental bands that seek to develop their own sound (which it seems that you guys have succeeded at in your first EP). There’s a real push and pull. When you write, do you have your influences in mind or are you actively trying to pave your own way?

AD: I wouldn’t say I write with influences in mind per se, but obviously everything I make is informed by things I admire. And there have been a couple times where I’ve named a demo session something like, “let’s rip off Deerhunter!”

GC: For me there’s no pressure to have influences in mind when writing; my parts usually form within the boundaries set by Alex and Jade’s drafts.

TC: I love the balance in your music between the untamed feistiness of punk and a more measured experimentalism that seems to get into the territory of art rock, or even math rock (I mean, the time signatures in “EarthBound” are seriously wonky and wonderful). How does that balance play out in the writing process? Are you more into exploration and improvisation or is your process more on the careful and deliberate side?

AD: Thank you! I don’t have a strict songwriting process that I follow. They all come together differently. I would say that I write more on the deliberate side, but that still includes exploration. I usually write by myself and record every part in Logic, so I can imagine what everything will sound like together, though our newest song I brought to the rest of the band with only a basic structure, chords, and vocals. I’m excited for people to hear that song; there’s some weird meter stuff going on in it. I like the challenge of making a song feel regular even when the meter is odd or in flux. I want our music to sound smart and sharp, but still approachable.

J: My process is more on the improvisational side (even though it’s got some deliberate elements), which is why it’s cool to work with Alex. I’ll improvise over loops I’ve made, and once I’ve fleshed out a lot of little loops, I’ll weave them together. When I’m structuring all the loops, preserving the spontaneity of the initial improvisations always feels important.

TC: Speaking of process, how do you share responsibilities in the writing process? Is it pretty collaborative?

VC: Alex has done a majority of the composing/songwriting so far… Jade and I joined the band when the EP had already been recorded, so most of the band’s songs had already been written for us. We’re slowly producing more material, and it seems like the more time we play together the more collaborative it gets; Jade wrote one, and used Guitar Pro to help develop the most recent material that Alex brought in, which was pretty cool. But Alex is definitely a song­writing wizard, though Freindbot will be writing our song lyrics from now on.

TC: How’s the New York music scene right now?

Freind: G bless G Toss.

TC: Do you have relationships with other bands in the area?

VC: Yes,­­ most of our friends are musicians and/or artists. Shout out to all my homies in Period 4.

TC: Is there a story behind the title of your EP, Lemon? What about the incredible cover art with the floating desk?

AD: The name came from the art, which I found in an aromatherapy book that a friend gave me. It’s from the page about lemon oil.

VC: The music is pretty sweet and sour too, so the name worked out.

TC: What’s up next for you?

Freind: We have two singles that are coming out on June 30. Come to the release show!

Upcoming shows this summer:

May 10th in Brooklyn, NY @ Palisades with Laser Background, SOFTSPOT & Dougie Poole

May 27th in Manhattan, NY @ Cake Shop with Selva & Drama Section

June 2nd in Philadelphia, PA @ Goldilocks Gallery with Operator Music Band & Shakai Mondai

June 16th in Brooklyn, NY @ Shea Stadium with Moor Mother Goddess & Baby Birds Don't Drink Milk

June 30 in Brooklyn, NY @ Palisades with Maria Takeuchi, The Cradle & Flower Girl

July 7th in Brooklyn, NY @ Silent Barn with Transcendental Telecom, Very Fresh & Railings

July 16th/17th in Ridgewood, NY @ Out in the Streets Festival

INTERVIEW: Summer Twins

Laura Kerry

Summer Twins has been turning out a catchy breed of California-tinged garage and dream pop since 2008, but their history goes much further back. The band’s core members, Chelsea and Justine Brown, are sisters a year apart, and, as I learned from an email interview, they have been playing music together since their childhood in Riverside, California (an hour east of LA). The chemistry that comes from history and family is easy to detect in harmonies that are reminiscent of ‘60s girl groups, an easy confidence that evokes The Donnas, and a dynamic blend of sounds that is very much their own.

Chelsea and Justine wrote to me from SXSW, one stop on a jam-packed tour to promote their latest album, Limbo, released last October on Burger Records. Produced by Chris Woodhouse, who has worked with garage-rock greats like Ty Segall and Thee Oh Sees, the album reflects a slight shift towards a grittier side—a natural progression, they say, and one that might come from the struggle of creating art while trying to make a living as adults (“Never again will I be so young and free,” they sing on the track “Florence”). Later this week, Chelsea, Justine, and band members Michael Rey and Andy Moran take their tour minivan all the way up to Brooklyn, where you can catch them headlining our show at Babycastles. Get to know them here a little bit first.

Thrdcoast: Let’s start at the beginning. Chelsea and Justine, you two are sisters—have you always played music together? And are your parents psyched about it?

Chelsea Brown: Yeah, we've always played together and I think our parents are pretty stoked! They put us in piano and violin lessons when we were kids with the hopes of us playing together. That didn't quite stick, but we started our first band when we were 13 and 14 and have kept it going ever since!

TC: In the Limbo cover art, it looks like you’re lovingly and playfully fighting. Is that a pretty accurate depiction of your sisterly dynamic?

Justine Brown: I can see how that could represent our friendship, though it wasn't meant to. We do spend a lot of time together so we have our clashing moments, but they are quick. We know it's not worth it to keep arguing when we don't agree on something because it won't get us anywhere! We always end up laughing afterwards.

TC: How and when did Summer Twins start in earnest?

CB: We played in a band with our friend Mia called the Scandells for most of our teenage years. We all kind of grew out of it, and I started writing some new songs without any real direction. We took up the name Summer Twins in 2008 and always had a rotating lineup of friends. We've been playing shows consistently ever since and have progressed a lot with each album.

TC: Do you write songs together and if not, how do you divide writing responsibilities?

CB: I would usually write the foundation and lyrics of the songs and most of the guitar parts, then we would develop the song as a band and everyone would kind of add their own thing. Now Justine is starting to write a bunch (she wrote and played all of the instruments on "Helpless" and "Florence" on our new album, and recently started her own band called Easy Love), and we have two other songwriters in the band: our bassist Michael Rey (with his band the Woebegones) and Andy Moran (who leads the Shingles). They're all so talented! I'm used to writing alone, but I'm hoping to get more input from the rest of the band for our new stuff.

TC: In songs like “JuJu” and “Helpless,” the lyrics are very personal, while others sound more dreamy. Do you draw most of the lyrics from personal experience or is it more like storytelling? Or both?

JB: I've been drawing off of personal experiences for the most part. My lyrics are all over the place, but they mostly describe what I'm thinking or how I'm feeling about a specific person. I'm usually over-dramatic about stuff when I put it into a song because when I actually sit down to write, these feelings are what compelled me. They are all built up in the beginning and then they dissipate eventually.

TC: There’s a really wonderful balance in your music between a sweeter pop sensibility and a more fuzzed-out and gritty edge, with a little more of the latter in the last album. Is that grittiness something you intentionally sought out in making Limbo or did it come naturally?

CB: I think it came pretty naturally. I've always been really inspired by '50s music, which tends to have a more sweet, innocent sound, but I was also into fuzzed-out '60s garage and French pop. I think being immersed in the world of Burger Records and seeing so many great garage bands also inspired us a bit! I like the dynamic of the two sounds.

TC: How did you get together with Chris Woodhouse? What was it like to work with him?

JB: Lee from Burger Records suggested him. When we found out what other albums he had done for Thee oh Sees and Ty Segall, we knew that we would be getting the best production! He knows so much about equipment and getting the right sound. He also helped solidify some of my guitar and bass parts. He was really cool to work with.

TC: I read that you made Limbo in 10 days holed up in a studio in Sacramento. What was that like?

CB: It was really intense! We recorded 12 hours a day and only left the studio for breakfast and dinner, and it rained the whole time. For the most part it was just the two of us and Chris (Michael drove up to play bass on five tracks), and it's weird being isolated like that. You're kind of in this bubble, and you can't really tell what it's going to sound like until the very end. Chris is a master at analog recording and mixing and we were really happy with how it came out! I feel good knowing that we put so much into it, and as tough as it can be, I like when we can test our endurance and push ourselves. I love a challenge and I love being a slave to art :)

TC: How’s the tour going?

JB: It's going really well! I definitely have moments of uncertainty. This tour has been very DIY. It's kind of fun that every show is a mystery, but there are definitely ups and downs. The sound on stage (if there is any) is difficult in most situations. We have had some fans come out, though, and that reminds me why we are doing this in the first place. Our fans are so sweet and dedicated. We had to just get out there and play no matter how small the shows were going to be. I'm finally getting to the point in the tour now where I'm really excited to play. At the beginning I wasn't used to it and was tired before every show. In Eugene, I was basically napping while the other bands were playing, and the promoter offered me some tea. SXSW is exciting. It's great to be here. I've seen so many good bands already!

TC: How are you getting from place to place?

CB: We borrowed our parents' Toyota Sienna minivan and we PACKED it to the brim! We've got five people, all our equipment, our luggage and sleeping bags, and skateboards. It's nuts.

JB: We are so organized, though. I love it.

TC: Are you excited for the show at Babycastles? We are!

JB: Yeah, we are stoked! We haven't been to NYC in a while.

TC: And now for the requisite final interview question: What’s next?

CB: Michael and Andy (and our friend/merch guy Brad) all quit their jobs for this tour and Justine and I took a break from ours. It's the first time in a while that we've been able to fully dedicate ourselves, and I'm hoping that we can find a way to continue to do so when we get back. We’ve both got some new songs and we're eager to start working on the next album! Justine and I are hoping to expand our online store and get more into publishing (music for TV and commercials, etc.) so we can sustain ourselves. Also we're planning our first European tour and hoping to go back to Japan! We've got lots to do...

CONCERT COUNTDOWN: Summer Twins - Limbo

Kelly Kirwan

Summer Twins are easy listening. They play sunny dream pop that has the blunt edge of '50s and '60s garage rock, and is soothing without being sleepy—songbird vocals backed by the occasional soft kick. While they've enlisted extra hands to round out their sound (on bass, guitar, and the intermittent mellotron), at its core, Summer Twins is a sister act brought to us by Chelsea and Justine Brown. On their latest LP, Limbo, the sibling duo wrote the lyrics in their entirety and performed the brunt of the underlying melody (the element which comes first for them in the creative process).

The two recorded their second studio album in a somewhat seedy Sacramento area, with Chris Woodhouse acting as their in-house producer (his resume includes a collaboration with LA indie rock-god Ty Segall). Trekking between California's capital and their new Los Angeles abode, the Brown sisters created an LP that's West Coast through and through—its songs are painted in warm yellow and orange hues, where even the tints of grunge are laid-back in delivery. As a band, they've created the kind of Limbo you want to bide your time in, hovering between now and the era of Beach Boys and The Beatles.

The smooth shot of nostalgia that Summer Twins serves on their album is ever-present on the track "Our World". It's sultry and slow to unfold, evocative of old-school, early-'60s romance—swaying at a small-town dance, letterman jackets and talk of going steady. "I'll wait for you / And you will wait for me / Can't stand another night of sleeping alone / Let's put our belief into the unknown," the Brown sisters croon, and their sweet, forlorn delivery has that retro vibe of USO girls sending off the troops, bittersweet and hopeful all at once.

Then there's "Ouija," which has a more ominous tone, coupled with the Brown's high, lilting vocals (reminiscent of Dusty Springfield's 1968 single "Spooky"). It's a track that flirts with themes of dark magic and mysticism, slipping into winding guitar riffs typical of psych-rock and its affinity for pensive, bass-heavy interludes. The gentle cadence of the Browns' vocals has a hypnotic effect, conveying an uncertainty and restlessness over what's brewing beneath the surface: "Something's got to change / I feel it in my veins / Like a sunny sky turns into rain / Let it thunder, let it pour / Let it shake me to the core." It's uncanny and a tad kitschy, but a fast-acting ear-worm that's readily put on repeat.

Currently setting off on a cross-country tour, Summer Twins—and their latest project—are worthy of your radar. For one, their music is an absolute hit in Japan (seriously, with cover bands and all), and two, they've pulled off a genre that tends to be overdone without coming across as stale. They have a relaxing sound that never drifts into the background, proving a softer touch can have the stronger staying power. 

Summer Twins will be headlining ThrdCoast's first collaborative show with Dirges & Daydreams at Babycastles in New York City on Sunday, March 27, with fellow acts Cut Worms and Goldy. We hope to see you there!