Rock 'n' Roll 'n' Blues Women!

Hope Sandoval was born in 1966 and grew up in a Catholic Mexican-American family in East Los Angeles, California. She attended Mark Keppel High School. In 1986, she formed the folk music duo Going Home with Sylvia Gomez, and recorded one album produced by David Roback, which is yet to be released.^[67]

 

Besides vocals, Sandoval plays acoustic guitar, harmonica, Hammond organ, percussion, glockenspiel and xylophone. During live performances, Sandoval prefers to sing in near-darkness with only a dim backlight, playing the tambourine, harmonica, glockenspiel or shaker.^[68] She is reputed to have a shy personality, and rarely interacts with the audience,^[69] once stating "I just get really nervous. Once you're onstage, you're expected to perform. I don't do that. I always feel awkward about just standing there and not speaking to the audience, but it's difficult for me."^[70]

Sandoval currently resides in both San Francisco and Ireland.^[71][72]

Mazzy Star - Into Dust

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At the same time, Van Etten, 37, was in the midst of returning to her day job as a singer-songwriter, plotting a music video shoot, getting ready for a tour set to begin in February and awaiting the imminent delivery of the finished vinyl for her fifth studio LP, out Jan. 18 via Jagjaguwar. Though typically understated, the album’s title, “Remind Me Tomorrow,” nods at Van Etten’s current juggling act — a tongue-in-cheek mantra for a multitasking mother who also happens to run the small business that is an independent band.

“Crazy, crazy, crazy,” Van Etten said, taking in the scope of her hectic but life-affirming last three years, which, ironically enough, began when she tried to press pause on her music career. “I can’t even believe we’ve done what we’ve done.”

It’s Van Etten’s now-frequent use of we and our in conversation that best mark her transition from a solitary, searching singer, known for her languid, almost gothic breakup songs, to something fuller and less fragile — someone to be counted on, someone in charge of things. Together with her romantic partner, Zeke Hutchins, who was once her drummer and now works as her manager, Van Etten has undertaken what the couple characterizes as various adventures — acting, school, scoring, parenthood — each of which adds to her ongoing project: becoming a more well-rounded, more empathetic artist.

“So much of creative work today is all about like, the solitary genius and sudden rise,” said Zal Batmanglij, who directed Van Etten in “The OA,” the Netflix sci-fi series. “But it’s the people who actually do the work, day in and day out, that are special. They’re after something deeper, their work gets better — things that aren’t necessarily super-fashionable right now. They last the test of time. That’s everyone’s reaction to Sharon.”MORE

Arriving on stage in a mist of dry ice, and lit mainly by a pair of Victorian style streetlights, Esben and the Witch begin their set with a wave of guitar feedback, leading into debut single 'Marching Song'. Alternating between vocals and floor tom/cymbal, singer Rachel Davies cuts an imposing yet detached figure, backed up by multi instrumentalists Tom Fisher and Dan Copeman, although much of the synths, drums and bass come courtesy of samples.

...
You all swap instruments so I guess you can try anything but there is only three of you.
Rachel: We approach that with positivity rather than a hinderance though. Were not trained musicians either.
Thomas: We have a lot going on live too, like triggering samples and building up layers still. No backing tracks though, so sometimes the songs are slightly different to the original recordings. This allows us to re-imagine them live on stage to the audience.
Rachel: We can re-connect to the songs that way too and freshen them up.MORE

The band, aka Rachel Davies, Thomas Fisher and Daniel Copeman, are currently on tour following the release of Violet Cries earlier this month and allow Sloucher a few moments snatched conversation before they go on stage at The Harley.

The band’s name, Esben and the Witch, derives from a Danish fairytale involving magic, murder and witches. Why did they decide to name the band with such an unusual name?

“It is something we stumbled upon, we liked the story and the imagery involved and the subtle malevolence and the odd messages intrinsically involved in all fairytales.MORE