L.A. Witch first popped up on my radar in 2015, which is a bit crazy as they were very young and undiscovered teens at the time without a single record to their name. Blame YouTube, whose algorithms showed them as a related video to something else I was watching. That other video is long forgotten, but L.A. Witch is definitely not.
The band is made up by the three young women Sade Sanchez (vocals/guitar), Irita Pai (bass) and Ellie English (drums). The band name should tell where they are from. They initially wanted to call themselves Witch, but when that name was taken they added L.A. at the front.
The band plays a fascinating mix of garage rock and psychedelic folk, often creating a moody, droning, haunting, reverb-drenched ambience. L.A. Weekly described them as “haunted surf rock, road trip blues and 60’s-sounding psychedelia” and I’m not sure I can say it better. Their influences are bands like The 13th Floor Elevators, Black Sabbath, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, and seminal L.A. punk rock bands X and The Gun Club.
What drew me to them initially was not just their sound, but also their raw potential. These ladies clearly had “it” but they were also so young that there was no question they were going to develop and take many steps forward as they continued, grew, and gained some confidence. Their first, self-titled album was released in 2017, and was already a solid effort. They kept up the momentum with the EP Octubre in 2018.
Their second album Play With Fire was recorded in 2019 and released in 2020. Where the first album often had been a bit more slow-burning, ambient and droning in its approach, the second is more direct and raw, sounding like it has been written on the road. This is probably not far from the truth, as the band toured relentlessly after the release of the first album.
The album was recorded in Valentine Recording Studios, located in the Laurel Canyon aera of Los Angeles. The studio is considered a historic place. It rose to fame in the 1960s when it became a huge music hub with artists like The Beach Boys and Frank Zappa recording there. Some of the era specific equipment is still there, and the interior decoration has been untouched since the 1960s/70s. This was helped by the fact that the studio shut down in the early 1980s and was only recently reopened in 2015. The location was untouched, adding to the feel of visiting a time capsule. This was a definite inspiration to the band as well, who was recommended to go there by labelmates The Coathangers who recorded their The Devil You Know album there in 2019. “The place has a heavy energy from the records that were made there and all the musicians who walked through those doors,” says vocalist/guitarist Sade Sanchez.
Play With Fire fittingly starts with a track called Firestarter. Is the song title is a pun on the album title? Who knows. The track has a stomping rhythm and driving guitar part and is immediately different from anything they have recorded before. The guitar riffs away, it chomps along with a stomping rhythm, and is much more of a straightforward rock song. It keeps familiar layers of effects going in the background, so we’re not totally on new ground. Toward the end, the song is slowed down and become more bewitching for a short bit, showing that they have not forgotten old tricks.
Motorcycle Boy follows, with the most intense mid-tempo drive the album has to offer. The riffage, and especially intensity of the drumming, propels the song forward between verses. But mid-tempo it remains, and in the sections with vocals the song takes on a more relaxed feel. It’s a great dynamic. The song is beguiling with a lovely build. Along with the opener, this gives the album a great one-two punch of an opening, declaring some level of intensity while also some diversity. Sanchez especially adds a lot of harmony vocals on this track, showing some real progression in her vocal work. This was unthinkable on the first album, and this song probably has my favourite L.A. Witch vocals on it.
Let’s talk about the vocals. Sade Sanchez has a unique voice. If you check out early performances from 2013 and a few years onward on YouTube, you will primarily see charming performances from a band taking baby steps, but it’s also clear that the vocals were the weak point of the band at that time. Primarily, there was a lack of dynamics which made them start grinding on you after a bit. Has it gotten better? Oh gawd yes! Sanchez has been on a journey since then and gone through tremendous development. The performance on a song like Motorcycle Boy in particular is on a level that we could only hope for five years ago.
Sanchez did well on the first album, with her singing style still clearly developing, but the slower material suited her well. I was curious to see if/how the vocals would take further steps on the next album, especially with the benefit of a lot of touring. I am very pleased to see her using her voice more actively and in different ways for effect.
There are still some songs on Play With Fire where I feel the voice could have been worked on a bit more, and the producer could have pushed for even better takes or more variation in the approach, but the results are in the books now. At this point, I think continuing to gain confidence is going to be vital for her in stretching even further.
Dark Horse is a very interesting track, going for yet another different dynamic by bringing in acoustic guitars and organ sounds. The band may have used this before, but they have certainly not had featured parts in this manner. The acoustic riff is satisfyingly brooding and with a spooky feeling. The band may have changed some of the colours they are painting with, but they are painting with the same strokes. So far the album is doing a wonderful job of increasing their expression while maintaining their sound.
Halfway through the song the band switch gears, hit a different rhythm and add electric guitar, taking the song even further. I certainly can’t call the band progressive in the classic sense of that word – they would tap more into that through their use of psychedelia – but this is probably as close to that as they have gotten so far.
This takes us to I Wanna Lose, which was the first single from the album. It has a catchy guitar riff and great drive. The post-chorus bridges are especially great, with the song taking on an unexpected ambient feel with the guitars picking away in a frantic surf-guitar style.
The song is a simple and clear recognition of the importance of personal commitment in the fight to make this world a better place. The willingness to stop fighting, even if it takes losing the argument, can be a powerful intent. The song has a great line in “Choose to lose and free yourself.” The sentiment can be seen a number of ways, ranging from an expression of love to an encouragement of submission.
In talking about the song, Sanchez said, “I Wanna Lose is about feeling free and feeling stronger because you’ve lost everything and now you’ve got everything to win. It’s about being a punching bag in a martyr-like way, and losing a fight to move on.”
I wanna be the one to end the fight
I wanna be the one to make things right
Coz I’m ready to lose
I wanna lose
I control myself nobody else
Choose to lose and free yourself
Gen-Z is the first song on Play With Fire that reminds me significantly of the style that was dominant on their first album. A slow, Maureen Tucker-ish hypnotic beat kicks off the song, which crawls along with spellbinding guitars and a seedy, enchanting mood. They are channeling the more atmospheric moments of The Velvet Underground very well in this song about their own generation. Gen-Z explores the power of Generation Z (succeeding Millennials and preceding Generation Alpha) and the important role they have in humanity’s ongoing commitment to betterment for all.
Sexorexia is a decent mid-tempo rocker which encourages the exploration of oneself far beyond how just he/she is reflected in a significant other. It has a punk edge, but ultimately straightforwardly so. The song could have benefitted from exploring that expression deeper, or maybe just spending a little more time on the arrangement which is a little plain. A firm “good, not great” song.
Imagination is certainly there in the next song, which is an album highlight. On Maybe the Weather they channel their inner psychedelic folk artist, with a soundscape that does not sound like anything else they’ve ever done. A heavily effect-laden folk song it is, as it does the unthinkable feat of combining an otherworldly ambience with their garage rock roots. Heavily retro in feel, this is where the spirit of the Valentine Recording Studio can be heard the clearest. This song is fascinating and If that is a guitar playing the solo, it is channelled through so many filters that it is nigh on unrecognisable as that.
Things speed up a bit more on True Believer, which is a straight shooting 1960s-sounding garage rock trip. Another “good, not great” track. The more straightforward tracks blend a bit in with each other at this point in the album, to be honest, but its snappiness helps (it clocks in at just two minutes).
The album ends with Starred. After everything, the “everything more distorted than everything else”-approach is the only approach to end this album on. This is a cacophony of sounds, with every single instrument drenched in reverb and tons of effects. The result is a cacophony of sound. The song almost becomes secondary, but it is a slow mid-tempo with a nice groove, echo, rippling vocals, and plenty of room for instrumental overdrive. The guitars wail, the bass guitar shows its fuzzy warmth, and the drums are a hot mess. The feeling of style over substance is hard to ignore, but I guess sometimes the style is what it’s all about. And then, just as the song has built up some momentum, it ends.
Play With Fire has harder edges than its witchy and spellbinding predecessor, but there are also new sounds and more expansive ground is covered. I love how they are getting more imaginative on this album, showing definite growth in that area. The album is a showcase for amazing guitar melodies, experiments with sound effects, and the energy of a band that is getting some good live experience.
This is not a long album, with the nine songs nearly clocking in at the half hour mark, but it does not need to be. It is enjoyable, but not perfect, with especially the first half of the album coming across as stronger overall than the second (although Maybe the Weather is a very notable late-album peak). Some songs have a more plain and straightforward arrangement, which is made all the more noticeable as other songs are really innovative with a lot more going on in them.
The reason that some songs are more straightforward than others can likely be found in comments made by the band. Drummer Ellie English said, “I think the whole thing is a big achievement for all of us. We had to write it a lot faster than the first one. We had a practice space and so we worked up the album’s worth of songs in a month or two and then we recorded it.”
“Having that pressure and time constraints made it so that we didn’t overthink the writing process,” adds Sanchez. “The songs were more cohesive, which was something we hadn’t focused on before.”
Cohesive is a good way of describing the album, and make no mistake about it: this is a very enjoyable half hour with three young musicians. The album has some incredible highs and is an overall great effort. While it would have been truly special if every song had been on the same high plateau, we are still talking about a great effort from a young band. The sum is still a unique and very cool album that anyone would do well to check out.
L.A. Witch are still very much in the early years of their career. They are already coming up with something unique and exciting, and are beginning to tap into that raw potential they always had. The highlights from Play With Fire are incredible. As this band continue to refine their craft they are going to have some very interesting years ahead of them. Keep an eye out.
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