L.A. Witch debut “Kill My Baby Tonight”

L.A. Witch debut single 'Kill My Baby Tonight'

L.A. Witch have dropped their new single “Kill My Baby Tonight.” The track is off their debut self-titled album, out September 8th via Suicide Squeeze Records. The track, is a good introduction to the band’s marriage of ‘60s girls-in-the-garage charm and David Lynch’s surreal exposés of Southern California’s underbelly. Sade Sanchez’s black velvet vocals disguise the malicious intent of this murder ballad, with the thumping pulse of bassist Irita Pai, the slow-burn build of drummer Ellie English, and Sanchez’s desert guitar twang helping beguile the listener into becoming a willing accomplice to the narrator’s crimes.

Though the band hails from Los Angeles, they do not partake in any sort of witchcraft. Yet their ability to conjure a specific time and place through their sound does suggest a kind of magic. On their eponymous debut album, L.A. Witch’s reverb-drenched guitar jangle and sultry vocals conjure the analog sound of a collector’s prized 45 from some short-lived footnote cult band. The melodies forgo the bubblegum pop for a druggy haze that straddles the line between seedy glory and ominous balladry; the production can’t afford Phil Spector’s wall-of-sound, but the instruments’ simple beauty provides an economic grace that renders studio trickery unnecessary; the lyrics seem more descendent of Johnny Cash’s first-person morality tales than the vacuous empty gestures of pre-fab pop bands. This isn’t music for the masses; it’s music for miscreants, burnouts, down-and-out dreamers, and obsessive historians.

L.A. Witch was recorded at Hurley Studios in Costa Mesa and mixed in Highland Park, Los Angeles, though early incarnations of several songs from the album originally surfaced on limited edition singles released over the last several years. The band’s initial aspirations were humble. “We never really thought we would or could release an album,” the band says. “We were really just finding each other and finding our sound.” But after touring nearly non-stop for the last three years, L.A. Witch developed a haunting, and wistful sound that mixes garage rock, dream pop, with of course, a blend of psych.

L.A. Witch
L.A. Witch
tracklist:

1. Kill My Baby Tonight
2. Brian
3. Untitled (stream)
4. You Love Nothing
5. Drive Your Car
6. Baby In Blue Jeans
7. Feel Alright
8. Good Guys
9. Get Lost

L.A. Witch live:

4/8 – Ace Hotel, Palm Springs CA
31/8 – Levitt Pavillion (MacArthur Park), LA
4/9 – Vera, Groningen
5/9 – Paradiso, Amsterdam
6/9 – Kinky Star, Ghent
7/9 – Kantime am Berghain, Berlin
8/9 – Burger Invasion: Cologne, Köln
9/9 – Burger Invasion: Molotow, Hamburg
11/9 – Le Cog D’Or, Olten
13/9 – Gonzo Club, Zurich
14/9 – Le Baraka, Clermont-Ferrand
15/9 – Festival TBC @ 013, Tilburg
16/9 – Le Batofar, Paris
17/9 – DIY Cafe, Lille
18/9 – The Crofters Right, Bristol UK
19/9 – Acid Box, Brighton UK
20/9 – Moth Club, London UK
21/9 – Mono, Glasgow UK
22/9 – Psych Festival, Liverpool UK
23/9 – Rotown, Rotterdam

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