Foxtails Brigade, Emily Jane White, Paula Frazer April 11, 2012

“Porcelain’ is how their friend Uni, the one with the ukulele, dubs their unmatched sound. She’s right: the pretty melodies and flower-strewn stories conjure memories of playing dress-up in vintage finery. Yet a sharp, almost violent edge is ever present, saving the music from sugary sweet, indie-folk doldrums.” – SF Bay Guardian

“Foxtails Brigade has that soul-transporting ‘anytime but now, anywhere but here’ quality that accompanies a lot of bands not punching away at the prefab Garage Band beats on their Macs, and it’s such a welcome vacation. The violin and guitar glide and pluck together beautifully, accompanied by Laura Wenbach’s sweet and powerful vocals.” – SF Weekly

“Story-based songs and a melody-driven style bring commanding stage presence reminiscent of Kate Bush, Edith Piaf and Nico. Their haunting vocal sound, violin harmonies, fairy-tale lyrics and classical technique deem them artists to watch with great things to come.” – Village Voice Media

Once upon a time there lived a lonely but lovely classical guitar-playing substitute teacher named Laura. On one sunny summer day in 2007, on the smog-filled streets of Los Angeles California, Laura was encountered by a wandering, wide-eyed, mariachi-playing violinist named Sivan and thus began the storybook adventures of Foxtails Brigade...

A menagerie of sound and story, Foxtails' music merges fictional fairy-tale fantasy with real-life unfiltered recollections ranging from magnified misgivings of childhood to up-close, gritty accounts on substitute teaching. Foxtails Brigade evokes overtones of nostalgia for innocence lost and a quirky, childlike schizophrenia.

Their edgy and eccentric style is inexorably a product of deep rooting. Laura Weinbach grew up snail hunting and spying on Slash from Guns N’ Roses in the Hollywood Hills with three brothers and circus contortionist neighbors whose household pets were an emu and a psychotic monkey. When she got in trouble, her piano-prodigy mother and jazz-obsessed, highly disciplinary father would punish her with cassette tapes. She would have to learn and perform standards by artists such as Blossom Dearie, Ella Fitzgerald, June Christie, Billie Holiday and Carlos Jobim. Eventually, she realized an ingrained love she had for these same songs when years later she would perform them on the streets of Paris, France along with her own original compositions making enough tip money to buy a full-course fondue dinner and even some left over for a trip to the opera the next night. Sivan Sadeh had a similarly unusual upbringing. Raised by a symphony violinist for a father, she was forced to learn etudes and concertos. Later, the unforseen rebel that had long been brooding inside her, would finally surface when screeching out in the infamous garage band The Phoenix Underground and then traveling the country with her celebrated mariachi band Mariachi de Oro de California.

From the moment they first played together, Sivan and Laura knew they had a musical chemistry that was both rare and unique. Weinbach’s intricate guitar lines and ethereal voice, along with Sadeh’s wide vibrato and highly textured violin technique combine elements of complex neo-classicism with accessible pop and folk sensibilities. After relocating to the San Francisco Bay Area the two brigadiers quickly emerged as one of the region’s elite string-themed ensembles, gaining the attention of local press and performing with experimental-pop favorites like Bart Davenport, Faun Fables, Mia Doi Todd and Judgement Day.

On August 11th Foxtails Brigade will release their debut 7” record entitled Chat With Sivan on Third Culture Records, an insightful taste of their upcoming full-length album, The Bread and the Bait, due out in the fall. The 7” features all of the key Foxtails components. Guitar, violin and a story drive the songs in a uniquely stripped-down approach, with a title track that includes a guest appearance by experimental concert cellist Robin Reynolds, formerly of Nanos Operetta. A showcase for their offbeat lyrics and unconventional chord progressions, Chat With Sivan draws you in with illustrations of giant slug-like tentacles, communist killer bees, ice cream cones and pentacles, termites, cakes and tea.

FOXTAILS BRIGADE

EMILY JANE WHITE

PAULA FRAZER