Haunted Shed
Bio
Every few years it seems like the historically fruitful music community of Athens, Georgia births a recording that both translates and transcends the tangled beauty of the Classic City. From start to finish, Haunted Shed’s gorgeous debut album overflows with this complicated beauty – not just the glowing and radiant grace of Athens, but also its darker charms that occasionally bloom from the inherent shadows.
Fronted by lifelong musician and songwriter Etienne de Rocher, Haunted Shed sometimes sounds like it evolved from the West Coast’s lineage of late 20th century indie rock. Other times it sounds like there is a new genre happening here, right before our ears: something that unravels familiar sounds from the past to weave into brand new patterns and shapes.
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Etienne was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama but came up in the San Francisco, Bay Area’s vibrant 1990s music scene before relocating to Athens. His eponymous 2006 album has garnered a cult following – the kind that still pay him well to play private events and evening front-porch shows, streaming long distance in real-time. Etienne’s songs have always blended the avant-sonicity of indie rock with the elegance of 1960s baroque pop. But with Haunted Shed, many of his lyrics conjure the specters of Southern Gothic tomes. He explains, “These themes are definitely a big part of how I saw the South growing up. And it was something I missed during my West Coast years. You can’t escape it in Athens. It’s steeped in the soil, trees, and buildings.” This is handsomely contrasted with songwriting and compositional arrangements that enter an entirely advanced dimension, with ample help from some of Athens’ most seasoned veterans.
Dan Nettles (Kenosha Kid) plays lead guitar. But after hearing how he can tonally manipulate vintage sounds into unfolding lines of bewitching melodies, “lead guitar” seems too simple a phrase. “Casting spells” might be a better way to explain what he does. Drifting somewhere between Steve Gunn’s interlaced peaks and Europe ’72 Grateful Dead, Dan’s playing sounds both warmly recognizable and casually cosmopolitan.
There couldn’t be a better suited drummer for Haunted Shed than Joe Rowe (The Glands, Bliss, Pylon Reenactment Society). If you can imagine the well-oiled mechanics of Fugazi’s Brendan Canty downshifting into the smoldering grooves of Yo La Tengo’s Georgia Hubley, you’re halfway there. He balances the multiplicity of heavy kinetics with the finesse of intricate patterns.
Bass player and cellist Jacob Morris (Moth, Vic Chesnutt, Patterson Hood, Madeline, Ham 1, Liz Durrett) brings a versatile foundation to Haunted Shed. Taking cues from the psychedelic pop and folk of Athens’ robust scene, his contributions to these songs pivot from heavy bedrocks to the more buoyant groundings of floating sea vessel.
While these elements of Haunted Shed radiate with the resonance of indie rock’s heyday, this is not the now common sound of young musicians endearingly affecting the ‘90s. One listen and it’s obvious that these guys were there. They brought parts of what was there to here. And a lot changed along the way. This could be why some of these songs sound familiar but not nostalgic. Not since War On Drugs has a band blended both the 20th and 21st century so innately and innovatively. Here is a very forward-thinking and carefully crafted album that was made by a great band. And today’s indie rock needs a great band – a band that can pull us into a safer realm where everything feels cool and easy. But make no mistake.
Nothing cool is easy.