Formed in 2013, Austin band Wonderbitch has created a fascinating little hybrid for themselves, blending the sleek jazz rock of Steely Dan, the effervescent indie pop of Phoenix, along with a big, wonderfully garish helping of ’80s R&B. All those ingredients are on full display on “Johanna”, a bright, sunny selection from their forthcoming self-titled EP, on which jazz, prog, and pop commingle like late ‘80s Genesis and Toto, but also with the contemporary appeal of present-day stars Haim.
“Josanna is a refitted mixture of a slow psych-jam by Colton (guitar) that we would play for friends and drunk tourists on Dirty 6th Street in Austin in an old project, and an abandoned attempt by Butch (drums) at making his first progressive house track,” the band tells PopMatters. “The bright and snappy end result sounds absolutely nothing like either. There were many, many hours of guitar work and intense mix-tinkering fraught with emotions, that finally got their big release into the vocals.”
Wonderbitch will be released 21 July, and can be ordered via Bandcamp.