There are no lyrics or catchy choruses in the music of Los Angeles duo Bethany Cosentino & Amanda Brown. They have spooked the Pocahontas legend to forge the morphed sound of Pocahaunted and combine tribal beats, dub rhythms and freaky drones which could soundtrack ancient rituals or modern woodland frolics.
At times it’s all so self consciously strange that you may suspect them of jumping on the ‘new weird’ bandwagon. But the company they keep nips such notions in the bud – they number among their friends, admirers and collaborators trusted names like Liz Harris (Grouper) , Pete Swanson (Yellow Swans), Thurston Moore and Christina Carter.
Recording many tracks in one take means that Pocahaunted can, and do, put out releases at a rapid fire rate. Since 2006 I’ve counted around 25 releases in various formats – cassettes, 3″, split albums, CDRs & LPs.
As has become customary, most of these are in extremely limited editions, a fact alluded to on their website : “If you blinked, you missed our fuck it tape [A Tear For Every Grain Of Sand, 2006] which was insanely rad but is now like a rare collectible faberge egg“.
Blogshare sites like Deleted Scenes Forgotten Dreams + Experimental ensure these recordings don’t disappear without trace.
In coming up with their sound Bethany has said they float ideas about what the finished piece should sound like, resulting in such brainstormed brilliance as: “Talking Heads meets Cocteau Twins thrown into a blender after smoking a lot of weed” and trippy titles like ‘Emerald Snake On Ruby Velvet’ or ‘Bright Sea Of Singing Bowls’ .
Since Noise is mistakenly perceived as being testosterone driven, I suspect the fan base for this music is largely male orientated – a pity, as any self respecting rad fem needs to be switched on to these prime slices of switched on sisterhood.
