As they have comically had to explain in interviews, LA Witch aren’t really witches. However, popping the “W” question is perhaps understandable given their music is so dark. The three Los Angeles twentysomethings, who aren’t averse to wearing black, tap into the sleazy City of Angels underbelly that has inspired everyone from Raymond Chandler to the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The first words sung by vocalist/guitarist Sade Sanchez – every inch the LA rock chick in plastic trousers and coal-black eyeliner – are “I see the darkness in your eyes”, addressed to the nihilist character in You Love Nothing. The following Kill My Baby Tonight uses the perennial “If I can’t have you, no one can” murder motive to create a musical film noir.
More about Sunset nightmares than California Dreaming, their slowcore garage/surf-rock mixes Mazzy Star eeriness with Cramps or Jesus and Mary Chain-style guitar twangs. Ellie English’s pounding Velvet Underground-ish drumming and Irita Pai’s sea-dredging basslines provide a convincing rhythm. They’re certainly not the first band to realise the atmospheric power of lots of reverb, but some of the detail of their eponymous 2017 debut can get lost in the aural fog. Similarly, Sanchez’s vocals are a convincing Nico monotone but can become samey.
So it’s just as well that they find a different gear. Good Guys rattles along like the Brix Smith-era Fall; the sore post-breakup wound of Get Lost tears open with a scorching solo from Sanchez. And an as yet untitled new song sprinkles in pop sensibility, lets sunshine into their shadows, and suggests that somewhere in this gothic haze lies a darker negative of a 60s girl group.
