After numerous projects, local musicians find a home in Mondo Deco

Sacramento is in the grips of another icy cold night in November. Twenty or so local musicians and music aficionados have escaped the cold, spread around the living room of an apartment talking over each other and wine.

This is a listening party, and these people are part of a tight-knit circle of friends who have been asked to be the first to hear local band Mondo Deco’s debut album, Pleasurefaith, a blend of ‘60s-esque pop rock combined with gritty rock ‘n’ roll. A friend of the band, I too stand in a circle of people as the album plays from the big speakers set up around the room.

“This is not a focus group,” vocalist Jeremy Greene and bassist Steve Robinson jokingly reassure us. They are, however, asking friends to listen for which song is their favorite.

Meanwhile, an ongoing slideshow of band photos plays on a TV screen. To hear the full sound of the album, I walk into the next room, passing the wall lined with electric guitars to one of four chairs where a pair of headphones awaits on a seat. This once average room has been transformed into a full-fledged recording studio. On the other side of the chairs is a former closet now functioning as a sound booth. To the right is a massive hand-built desk where the mixer and computer are set up.

This is where the mastered album we are now listening to was recorded, mixed and engineered by Robinson.

For the past several years, this apartment, Robinson’s apartment, has more or less become Mondo Deco’s headquarters. It’s where they rehearse, where they record and now where they have interviewed.

Only an hour before, I was sitting with three of the four guys in the group (minus drummer Billy Ewing) around the fireplace talking about the album and everything that has gotten them to this point.

It was two and a half years ago that Mondo Deco, named after the opening lyric from the one-hit wonder “Motorboat” by Jimmy Jukebox, became an official band, they tell me. That’s when “the magic happened.”

As Greene sees it, forming Mondo Deco came out of necessity. Up to this point, members have worked on their other local projects, including Matinee Idols, Wanchai Daggers, Electric Teenage Bedroom or GGM (formerly Goodness Gracious Me!).

But Mondo Deco is the band Greene and Ewing envisioned would get people moving and shaking again at local shows, engaging an audience to do something other than just stand around.

Reuniting long after high school when Ewing moved back to Sacramento from Monterey, Calif., the two began planning Mondo Deco. Greene found Robinson in his audio engineering class at Sacramento City College, and guitarist Kolton James would later be introduced through mutual friends.

The band was almost complete, except they knew they wanted a woman’s touch. They had go-go dancers and doo-wop girls in mind, or female-backed ‘70s funk bands like Sly & the Family Stone or Parliament.

Female counterparts would not only add another dimension to the songs and the live performances, but they would also provide a sexy element.

They discovered their girls soon enough. Keturah Gibson and Jessica Carter were added to the band as backing dancers and vocalists earlier this year. Gibson has more than 10 years of dance experience and Carter was recruited from a video shoot with local burlesque group the Sizzling Sirens.

As a six-piece, the band is now looking to shake up a local music scene that seems to have faded over the last three or so years.

“I think a lot of people would rather go to a DJ night, and we want to start to put on shows rather than just be the background music for people trying to get laid in bars,” Robinson says.

To sum it up, there is a widespread disinterest in live music these days, Greene adds.

This explains why Mondo Deco has had such a methodical approach to putting their music out into the Sacramento scene, whether it is in the form of an album or performance. Since their beginnings they have played a modest number of shows, perhaps 15 to 20. They have been selective of which shows to play around town and what nights of the week they fall on.

“Every single time we played, we wanted to reinvent the wheel with what we were doing live,” Robinson explains.

Along with the desire to be an attention-grabbing band, similar music taste is also a strong force in the group–throwback genres and what they agree are the greatest musical eras: the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s. Names like Bowie, T.Rex, The Beatles or the Stones bear great weight.

Occasionally, newer music has been influential. For instance, James and Greene share an appreciation of The Raconteurs, which encouraged both of them to sing leads.

“I think that we all have an appreciation for what Jeremy adds as being a frontman, but we also do everything we can to bring him down from his pedestal,” Robinson says.

Keep in mind that while he maintains a straight face, half of what Robinson says is in jest.

He regains seriousness and continues, “There is a very deliberate effort for it to be a full band; everything should be a collaboration. There is an effort to make sure all of our egos are in check.”

“That’s why everyone sings in the group,” Greene adds.

Giving Pleasurefaith a listen, the vocals sound noticeably harmonized. This is because most of the vocals were recorded in the same room at the same time using a mid-side mic pair.

“We set up a couple of mics and really tried to feed off of the chemistry between us, rather than just tracking the vocals individually and placing them on top of everything,” Robinson says.

This pertains not only to the vocals, Greene points out. Most of the rhythm and beats were recorded live as well, in an attempt to keep the album as organic as possible.

Then they would incorporate effects. For instance, the tremolo effect or “wah wah” of the guitar is used in both “Lost Her Number” and “Young Man.” They recorded the guitar, sent it to another amp and upped the tremolo to give it a more “lush” sound.

On the first few listens, the lyrics on the album aren’t easily comprehensible. To write the songs, vocals are used more as instruments to match the musical arrangement of the songs.

“For the longest time I’ll just be throwing in garbage for lyrics that don’t really pertain to anything, they are just about the feeling,” Greene explains. “Cadence and melody and all that come first, and then you can piece in something that’s worth hearing, worth reading.”

Wordless melodies are then crafted into something meaningful. In “Far to Fall,” Greene and James describe an ominous telling of the apocalyptic ways in which the human race is doomed, either by the nuclear war, global warming or crashing economies.

“A fun aspect for writing lyrics with this particular group is bringing in a sense of fable or storytelling in general…things that slightly hint toward Snow White or alchemy,” Greene explains. “All of these things are greater stories that are out there and have been for thousands of years. Why not write more about them?”

Like most newer bands, the band is still in the works of defining their sound. Despite the influence of the great musical eras, they strive to keep theirs unique.

“There’s way too much era rock going on these days. People have a hard time finding their own voice,” Greene adds. “But if you can pick and choose from what you really appreciate, different genres or different eras, you can kind of put your own twist on it.”

Now the band is in the mindset of releasing another EP within the next six months. Robinson suggests that while Pleasurefaith songs bear a more classic, ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s rock ‘n’ roll feel, some of the post-Pleasurefaith songs they have written in the past few months may be evolving into less predictable prog-rock territory, alluding to unconventional time signatures and tempos.

Now that they are a record deep, the clock is ticking to figure out a musical direction and birth the next record, Robinson says.

Aware of this clock, the group continues to methodically consider all options–putting out singles versus EPs or full-length albums.

“As much as the Sacramento music scene might be slightly dormant right now, I think there are people out there that want new music to constantly be coming on the horizon,” Robinson speculates.

“We want there to be an effort to actually captivate and get Sacramento bands to put some kind of conscious effort into putting on the kind of show that people want to pay to see.”

Pleasurefaith is a reference to this very idea. The album is named after a phrase from the Gregory Maguire’s novel Wicked that encourages hedonism and indulgence as the greatest good.

Robinson brings the conversation full circle.

“I think that idea that the most important thing, like the Holy Grail, is the pursuit of that enjoyment [is] an analogy of why we formed as a band,” he explains. “Music is something that we enjoy doing, but it’s also something that we want to be enjoyable to go see. We want to be a show that assaults the senses.”

Sister Crayon Steps It Up Further on Debut LP

It was a gray and windy afternoon on the beaches of Malibu. A tidal wave warning was in effect, but there local band Sister Crayon stood, fully-clothed, sharp shoreline rock at their ankles, as photographer Eliot Lee Hazel barked orders to capture the frozen chaos of crashing white caps for the band’s debut album art.

Lead singer Terra Lopez slipped during one shot, cutting her leg, but Hazel ran his shoot like a drill sergeant. “He just said, ‘Get up. Don’t smile. Don’t look at me,’” Lopez said. “Well, he’s a sweetheart, nice guy, you can sit down and talk to him, but when he’s taking photos he is so intense.”

As absurd as it feels to the members of Sister Crayon, Lopez and drummer Nicholas Suhr spoke of the shoot as one of their most memorable music experiences–even though it had little to do with music. Along with Hazel’s artwork, the band has a high-def music video done by celebrity photographer Robert Ascroft. Browsing both photographers’ websites, perusing the tastefully gratuitous images of Devendra Banhart, Usher, Mariah Carey, Edward Sharpe and Brad Pitt, Sister Crayon will be the first to tell you how privileged, yet out of place they feel. Are these the last remaining minor moments of Sister Crayon before they receive Coachella bookings and Japan tour offers?

In the next few weeks, the band is playing humbler venues like Townhouse for the Sacramento Electronic Music Festival and Luigi’s Fungarden for the Bellow album release party. So our indie darlings have yet to grow too big for our sleepy city. Lopez looks like a siren Viking vixen in the video for “(In) Reverse,” but when I met with her and Suhr at Mondo Bizarro (formerly Butch & Nellie’s) for an interview, she was back in her Midtown garb, a second-hand green army jacket and jeans–the Lindsay Weir of Freaks and Geeks look. She’s still the same shy songwriter, fronting a gloomy pop act that seeks inspiration in the lonesome despair of poets like Jean Genet and Fernando Pessoa.

The Bellow sessions scattered across the span of a year and a half. The newly realized lineup of Sister Crayon crammed in 18-hour shifts at The Hangar with engineer Scott McShane, who described the process as “tense” and a “guerilla recording style.” McShane produced the first Sister Crayon EP, Enter Into Holy (Or)ders, and the band never entertained the thought of working with anyone else. “Recording already is a really intimate thing. We bond so well with him. He gets what we’re trying to do, even before we understand it,” Lopez said.

“He’s able to throw out ideas that’s not in an insulting way. It’s just full-on experimenting and you know that it’s for the best. He pushes us to succeed,” Suhr added.

The tension came from the hourglass pressure of paying for studio time and the unfamiliarity of having a new drummer join two weeks prior, writing his parts on the fly. Suhr was not a complete stranger, knowing Lopez from her stint in The Evening Episode, but he and Lopez talked of the anxieties surrounding a debut full length. “We were zombies. We’d spend 18 hours in the studio and you can hear it in the record,” she said.

Originally, Bellows was intended to be a five-song EP, written by Lopez and synth-keyboardist Dani Fernandez, with “I’m Still the Same Person” being the only pre-released song to make the album. But once the band wrapped recording those five songs, creativity was running high and five more songs were written collectively. “Scott kept telling us there was a lot of tension on the record,” Suhr said. “If you know what was going on at the time it makes sense. There was a lot of time spent coming to an agreement on things, but whenever we’re writing together there’s no awkwardness. It was easy to go into the next five songs with an open mindset.”

Indeed, the settling in is brazen and culminates with a spacious piano ballad called “Ixchel, The Lady Rainbow,” in which Lopez’s visceral croon soars over a piece written by former member Genaro Ulloa. “Ixchel” was the last song the band recorded, a one-take recording done well past the midnight hour. “We did it live tracking,” Lopez said. “He was in the other room and I was in the main room singing. We could see each other through a little window, but that was it. It was the first take and it was incredible. I know it sounds corny, but there were tears in everyone’s eyes. We were all exhausted. Even Scott had tears in his eyes.”

Suhr added, “It’s one of those songs. Every other song on the record we did multiple takes because we felt we could do better. At the end of that song, everyone was just like what the fuck. It’s one of those songs where if it didn’t sound like that, with the imperfections left in, it wouldn’t have worked.”

The gloomy pop instrumentation informed by the troubled words of dead poets is an appropriate setting for an album titled Bellow, but Suhr said a lot of the mood is owed to McShane’s guidance. “I heard the five songs written before I joined, but the mood had changed through Scott’s ears.” Lopez said his touch is most prevalent on “Here We Never Die and “(In) Reverse” as he took the band’s ideas and focused them into a cohesive sound.

In addition to McShane, the Sister Crayon sound, most notably the lyrics, is in homage to the writings of Fernando Pessoa, a 20th Century poet and literary critic. Lopez only admitted her obsession with Pessoa’s work. She has a Pessoa tattoo and her Pug’s name is Ophelia, after Pessoa’s secret crush to whom he never confessed his love. “It’s the despair,” she said. “It sounds dramatic, but he was such a lonely individual. He was very mysterious and obviously people are drawn to that.

“I think that is a huge part of Bellow. ‘Here We Never Die’ is my talking to a lover in that way. The despair and sadness that he wrote is so sad that I can’t even finish one of his books. I have to read a sentence a day sometimes because it’s so much. It just floors me. I have no option when it comes to his presence in my music.”

As intense as Sister Crayon is sonically and visually portrayed, Hazel’s insistency that the band stop smiling as the chilly Pacific waves capsized on their heads speaks of the band’s unbridled joy in its work. As arresting as “Ixchel, The Lady Rainbow” is, Bellow closes with “Souls of Gold,” a cheery campfire sing-a-long with a blasting brass section and woozy synths. “We’re always such a serious band and a lot of our songs are really dark,” Lopez said. “I do like that the album ends on a lighter note than what it could have been.”

See Sister Crayon live at their release party for their new album Bellows at Luigi’s Fungarden on Feb. 19.

By Submerge Staff

The holidays are right around the corner, and you know what that means: it’s time to shop! Oh holiday shopping; for some, it’s a fun occasion, even joyous. For others, “torturous” might be a better word. If you fall into the latter category, then you’ve come to the right place. Welcome to the 2010 Submerge Holiday Gift Guide, your source for all sorts of great local buys this season. We went around to some of our favorite places in town and hand selected these items to show you that holiday shopping doesn’t have to suck. In fact, if you try to spend your money locally in shops like these on items this cool and unique, we’re pretty sure you’ll shift over into that first category and be having fun whilst hacking down your shopping list in no time. Remember, keep it local and tell ‘em Submerge sent you.

For men, watches are a symbol of their sensibilities. Bright and architectural, the Daytimer by Will Alsop for Alessi is a fine symbol and great gift for that special guy, with a bit of flare and style. $120, available in orange, purple, green or black, at Lumens, 2028 K Street, Sacramento.

These locally handmade pillows are great for a funky snuggle pillow, or a dudely accent to any man-lair. $26 each, available at Spanglish Arte, 905 23rd Street Suite 2, Sacramento.

A nice, clean hookah is a must-have for any man-cave or college student’s home. $79.99, available at The Outer Limits, 2540 Cottage Way, Sacramento.

Get your favorite lady an auxiliary cord installation to her car’s factory stereo and you’ll be able to plug your iPod or iPhone in for some killer car-ride jams. No more bad chick music when you’re driving. $160 for iS77 by iSimple at Audio Express, 2003 Arden Way, Sacramento (some cases may require an antenna installation, $15).

Some like it knitted. Great tube neck scarves are simple, soft, warm and adorned with winter forestry-chic buttons. Vegan and by Late to the Revolution. $35 at Never Felt Better Vegan Shop, 2315 1/2 K St., Sacramento.

For those interested in the decorative arts, or just like conversation pieces, this giant vintage lighter (circa 1960) is the perfect gift. $36, available at Fringe, 2409 21st Street, Sacramento. (Functioning, lighter fluid needed.)

Shiny, fine jewelry is great, but even better when its got an attitude. Heads up pennies, a pink gem-encrusted clover and a gun? Sure, why not? This locally handmade necklace is a great splurge gift for an edgy lady, with fine taste. By Lucky 7. $135, available at Fringe, 2409 21st Street, Sacramento.

Got a bunch of vinyl records that you want to convert to MP3s? The Numark PT-01 USB is the most convenient way to digitize your vinyl. It’s rugged, it’s portable (can run off batteries and has an external speaker) and it’s affordable. $120, available from Phono Select, 2312 K Street, Sacramento.

Fragrances make great gifts, if you’ve got the guts to be bold. Generally fragrance is a good gift for those you know very well. Observe what type of fragrance normally worn (sweet, warm, fresh, floral, musky, light, rich), and there will be a similar, but exquisite fragrance by Tokyomilk. The smell of satisfaction: Dead Sexy and Honey & the Moon are two deliciously enticing scents. $29, available at Fringe, 2409 21st Street, Sacramento.

Girls love hair accessories; especially ones that add a pop of color, some pizzazz and are locally designed and created. Aerisk by Nancy Wong. $12 and $18, available at Sugar Shack, 2425 J Street, Sacramento.

Get this year’s hottest video game, Call of Duty: Black Ops, for less than you would at any big box store. Other places are selling it for $59.99 but Dimple Records has it for $54.99, available for PS3, XBOX 360 and Wii at all Dimple locations.

Tiki mugs from Tiki Farm are a fantastic addition to anyone’s kitchen (at home or at the office). Collectable, usable and cute as heck, what more could you ask for? $15 to $25, available at Swanberg’s, 2316 J Street, Sacramento.

Nothing says, “I’m stylin,’” like a nice pair of shades! It might be cold and rainy right now, but when the sun pops out, you’ll be ready with these hip Ray-Bans. $139, available at Swanberg’s, 2316 J Street, Sacramento.

Intricate locally handmade leather flower bracelets are perfect for an eclectic gal, or your little sister. $14 each, available at Spanglish Arte, 905 23rd Street Suite 2, Sacramento.

Invite your favorite artist to get their feet wet in “mural arts” with a few cans of MTN paint in various colors with several different spray caps. This handmade paint is from Spain. $6.90 to $7.70 for various spray paint colors and types; large caps 3 for $1, small caps 6 for $1, available at Artifacts, 905 K Street, Sacramento.

Warmth & Sound. Adorable knitted headphones by Late to the Revolution are a trifecta of headphones, earmuffs and headband; and vegan. $35, available at Never Felt Better Vegan Shop, 2315 1/2 K St., Sacramento.

People like the instant gratification of using received gifts as soon as possible. A recycled flattened bottle plate/tray is perfect for holiday festivities for cheese, nuts, fruit and crackers. Plus it’s just a great piece. Any entertainer, younger and less young, would adore this gem. By Bottlehood, $24, available at Fringe, 2409 21st Street, Sacramento.

Everybody loves electronic accessories! Local performing artist David Garibaldi has joined up with Lux Mobile to create a line of iPhone and iPad cases featuring his signature painting style. Give a smart case: Einstein iPhone 3G/3GS & iPhone 4. $24.99, available at Best Buy.

There is no accessory that sticks closer to a man than his wallet. They get touched, used, showed and stuffed in pockets often. A wallet needs to be soft but sturdy, serious but stylish. If your dude needs a wallet, you’ll be setting him up proper with this keyboard stamped leather wallet by Qwerty. $44 at Ladybug Ladybug, 2512 J Street, Sacramento.

Ganglians, G.Green, Fungi Girls

Wednesday, July 28, 2010 – Undisclosed Location – Sacramento

Venues so discrete we have to refer to them as “undisclosed locations” are where the raddest shows go down. These hole-in-the-wall, permit-be-damned DIY dives are incubators for garage bands ready to put their art on parade for the ultra-knowing scene. The covert show I attended on Wednesday gave discounts to members that found out about it through a taco stand–it’s that exclusive. As a member, I was there to see a night of local celebrities in the making, a 7-inch release and three teenagers from some vast distance called Cleburne, Texas.

Fungi Girls, the band from Texas, are a strong case study as to why these shows exist. The 16-year-old lads possess one solid driver’s license, at best, between the three of them. Fungi Girls’ tour is a teen movie in the making about a summer road trip without mom and dad. If that is indeed the story, I’m eternally jealous of how those young dudes must feel traveling around the country playing gigs to strangers in California. The best I was doing at 16 was overnight basketball camps at the local college.

Fungi Girls recorded is alarmingly impressive, but a further shocker is that the lo-fi sonics translate well to the live setting. I recall a few brief moments during the more shred-heavy jams, thinking it was like watching Weezer before they were signed, which is meant as a compliment. It might be tough to stomach, but there was a time when Weezer was a celebrated comparison. It’s clear the Fungi dudes’ tastes are growing beyond Woodsist and HoZac Records catalogues, as the set flourished with songs that ripped and balanced into a few sprawling numbers–they grow up so quick.

The boys of Fungi Girls played a tight set, devoid of the minor tuning lapses. Drummer Skylar Salinas was a beast in the backdrop, stuttering in the occasional light-speed drum roll with a surgeon’s precision. (Is there a Doogie Howser joke there?) The Fungi Girls played “Owsley Knows,” a favorite that is catchy beyond belief, and closed with the A-side and B-side of its HoZac 7-inch.

Comfort is a sacrifice for good entertainment. There’s no air-conditioned room for members and as I walked in, the door girl was notified that my friend and I would be the last new entrants. This meant a packed, windowless room that sat without ventilation through the dead heat of summer, would be filled to the walls with bodies. If the lineup is hype-worthy enough, attending a renegade gig is comparable to an economy pack of tampons stuffed inside a nuked hot pocket–in this metaphor you’re a tampon.

Ganglians are back from its European tour. Besides a release party for friends G.Green, the night was a welcome home to the gangly ones. The room was a pre-heated oven, but Ganglians counteracted the burn with its breezier songs, playing a new song called “My House” and “Crying Smoke.” The latter I have never seen performed live, but it turns out I’m not the only local who feels a soaked connection to it. People in the back clapped along, heads swayed to the acoustics and the throng of front row beauties danced with each other.

Feeling at home, lead singer Ryan Grubbs announced they would play a song the band wrote the night before, proceeding to pull out his cell phone to hear a recording he made, so as to remember the chords. Shouts of “play ‘Voodoo’” were honored as Ganglians closed with the request, a song I no longer recognize.

Often I’m shameless in decrying the DIY show, as it breeds exclusivity. Last Wednesday was an exception. If it weren’t for DIY shows, Fungi Girls’ touring schedule would slim dramatically and Ganglians would not have an intimate hideout to share its demos with friends.

Far

At Night We Live
(Vagrant)

“Don’t call it a comeback…” Oft-quoted, L.L. Cool J’s assertion that he’s “been here for years” is perfect for occasions such as this. In the mid- to late ‘90s, Far blurred the line between backwards-cap, Addidas-clad nü metal and heart-on-sleeve emo rock, and managed to do so in the most graceful manner possible. Their emotionally potent, fist-pumping (not the Jersey Shore kind) brand of heavy music probably could have had a huge impact on the world outside of Sacramento–it should have. And though Far certainly carved a niche among music fans at large, their 1998 breakup truncated what could have been.

Of course, the members of Far never went anywhere. The band’s name has always been uttered with no small amount of reverence, and its members had no problem moving on to other successful projects: Guitarist Shaun Lopez went on to helm The Revolution Smile, bassist John Gutenberger played with Two Sheds and Jackpot and frontman Jonah Matranga became most notable after Far’s demise for his solo work under the name Onelinedrawing. He even got a good dose of radio airplay when he provided vocals for the Fort Minor (Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park’s side project) single “Where’d You Go.” At Night We Live, set for a May 25, 2010 release, will be Far’s first album in 12 years. Will it make good on the promise they showed over a decade ago, or is it too little too late?

At Night We Live makes a statement toward the former with its huge opening track, “Deafening.” Fittingly, the sound of a timer rattles a few clicks before erupting into a brief battery of powerful riffs. Gutenberger’s sinewy bass lines and drummer Chris Robyn work in perfect symbiosis, powering the verses before giving way to Lopez’s mammoth guitars on the choruses as Matranga wails, “It’s deafening,” as if he’s pointing out the obvious. Later, Gutenberger and Robyn shine again on “Dear Enemy,” a palpitating and circuitous rocker punctuated by a stuttering outro.

It’s not all punch, though, as Far shows that even after a long absence, they’re not afraid to mix it up. Atmospheric tracks “When I Could See” and the sprawling “The Ghost That Kept on Haunting” pull from a much more subtle sonic palette, allowing Matranga’s breathy vocals to take on a sort of dark croon. This creates just enough variety among a collection of songs that sticks to a pretty consistent tone and tempo.

If there were one complaint with At Night We Live, it would be that it’s a bit one note. Songs such as “Give Me a Reason” get lost in the shuffle and are easy to overlook. Also, the final track, “Pony,” the Ginuwine cover that sowed the seeds for Far’s reunion, serves as an anticlimactic conclusion for an album that starts off with such bombast–a clever novelty maybe, but a novelty nonetheless.

Otherwise, there should be more than enough positives here for those who have been waiting with crossed fingers in hopes that another Far album would come. Rest assured that it’s been worth waiting for. But whether or not the band’s shot at a share of the spotlight has come and gone remains to be seen.

Words by James Barone

Click for our interview with Far’s Jonah Matranga and Shaun Lopez [Dec. 2008]

Some things were just meant to be. Listening to the music of Sacramento locals Agent Ribbons, you’d think the group had been together forever. There’s an almost preternatural chemistry between vocalist/guitarist Natalie Gordon’s warm, rich guitar tones, her equally resonant vocals and drummer Lauren Hess’s smoothly shuffling rhythms. However, Agent Ribbons have yet to enter their terrible twos (that’ll happen this coming March). In fact, before she met Hess, Gordon, who had been playing sporadic solo shows prior to her work with Agent Ribbons, seemed like she had run her course with performing music.

“After hitting a dead end in songwriting around then, I sold my guitars and didn’t play for a year,” Gordon explained over a brief e-mail correspondence. “Meeting Lauren was a turning point for me and brought invention and inspiration back into process of writing music, and from there we developed a symbiotic approach to the music we create.”

Was it fate? Maybe. But it’s probably best not to overanalyze. What makes Agent Ribbons’ music so engaging is its enchanting simplicity. Gordon took the time from her busy schedule as an employee in an “independent sweat shop” to answer a few of Submerge‘s questions via the mystical strands of the World Wide Web.

I’d read in an older interview that you (or had) lived in a Victorian home. Listening to your music, I got the sense that it had a nostalgic quality to it. Are you a history buff, and if so, what period of history holds the most interest for you?
I was an art history major during my brief stint with scholarly pursuits. I do prefer historical fiction and biographies over most genres…one of my favorite books is called The Fall of Madame X and almost entirely because of my fascination with that story I think I’d like to be in Paris in the 1880s. It’s such a romantic time and place to be in, but probably only for the rich.

Do you and Lauren still inhabit different apartments in the same building?
Lauren lives in the flat below in our building, though half the time she lives in San Francisco where she is employed in a bead shop.

In your first e-mail to me, you’d mentioned that you had a hectic schedule due to your new job. Does work stress affect how you write songs or what you choose to write about?
Actually, having structure and repetition really helps my creative process. Almost all our songs were written whilst riding in the back of a car, on long walks through downtown or ironing because I drift into that space when I’m bored or have the freedom to daydream. Right now, I’m working as the assistant to a corset maker, though I like to tell people that I work for an “independent sweat shop.” Anyway, corset making demands an attention to detail, so I write when I get home.

Reading the lyrics for a couple of your songs on your SonicBids page, it seems that your lyrics are character-driven. Would you say that’s a fair assessment? If so, where do you find inspiration for these characters?
Most of the songs tell stories instead of convey only ideas, I guess. And a good story relies on strong and memorable characters, so I spend a lot of time developing that aspect, almost unselfconciously. Most of the stories I come up with are a hybrid of personal experience and either movies or books. The space I am in when watching a film or reading—especially escapist-type stuff—is the place I’m in while songwriting. So I draw much of my inspiration from movie theaters, but create my own plot and characters, but much of the song is emotionally drawn from actual life.

I saw that your 7-inch, And the Star-Crossed Doppelganger, had a cover drawn by Dame Darcy. How did you meet up with her, and what was it like working with her?
She happened to be on tour with her own band, Death by Doll, and so we asked her to play at our CD release party when she came to the area. She actually stayed in my room for a couple days and I was a bit breathtaken for all of the first day. However, after realizing how fun and dorky she was, it evolved into more of a friendship and she let us stay with her when we came to Los Angeles. We were so honored to work with her on the 7-inch and she seemed very pleased to do it!

Had you been a fan of her work and comics prior? Are you a regular reader of comic books in general (I am, so I won’t make fun of you for saying yes)?
I would not consider myself a comic book fan in general, but I have been reading Dame Darcy for years and was a fan of her solo music before even that. Having once dated the owner of a comic book store for a while, I took on a greater appreciation for comic books. However, I hardly read any. I still haven’t finished Fables [published by DC/Vertigo], which I love so far, but I have finished The Lost Girls by Alan Moore.

I also saw that you’d handcrafted album covers of your album On Time Travel and Romance prior to having the artwork version. You also make band merchandise like jewelry. Is this something you hope to keep doing and has this affected your own appreciation of the group?
Making things by hand for the band is a total blast, but unfortunately, very tedious and time-consuming. After having made 800 handmade CD covers, we started to only feature them once in a while when we have time to make them. We have printed artwork now that we are very excited about that was illustrated by a French artist, Marie Caudry.

You released a full-length album. Are you working on another album now? If so, what direction do you see your songwriting heading?
There is no specific plan for the next album, but we are certainly working on new material. Hopefully we might have something out in the beginning of 2009.