Advertisement

BUZZ BANDS

Share via

Abigail Chapin doesn’t want anyone to get the wrong idea. “We’re not depressive kinds of people,” she says of the Chapin Sisters’ “Lake Bottom LP.” The trio’s debut album, coming out Tuesday, has song titles like “Don’t Love You,” “Drop Me,” “I Hate the Moon” and “Kill Me Now” (which rhymes “lonely” with “stone me” -- in the Shirley Jackson sense). “There’s a lot of happiness around,” Chapin says. “But, I don’t know, I find it hard to write happy songs. I think the melodies that I’m drawn to are minor keys; it’s what I like.” The tales of love burnout, pleas for forgiveness, dismissed paramours and such are etched upon a spare backdrop of acoustic guitar and brazenly forward three-part harmonies. The soft-pedaled darkness doesn’t come out of nowhere: Abigail and her sister Lily (above, from left) are daughters of singer-songwriter Tom Chapin, and half-sister (above, right) Jessica Craven’s dad is fright-master Wes. An audacious remake of Britney Spears’ “Toxic” first landed them notice, but the songs that make up “Lake Bottom” are their own. “One of us brings a song to the table, we work on it together extensively, and then the harmony writing, guitar parts. It takes months for us to get a song ready to perform.” But when they do hit the stage: “With the three of us, it’s almost like a physical high,” says Abigail, “just the harmony in the singing -- there’s something really amazing about it.” Live: The Chapin Sisters continue their Monday residency at the Echo in Silver Lake through March; they also perform an in-store at Amoeba Music on March 27. ALSO: No fewer than a half-dozen artists with notable new albums are playing shows early next week -- Neon Neon, Jim Noir and Oppenheimer (all Monday at the Viper Room), Jason Collett (Monday at the Troubadour), the Felice Brothers (Tuesday at the Echo) and Headlights (Wednesday at the Silverlake Lounge). . . . And that’s not counting Nada Surf, who’s headlining the Music Box @ Fonda on Wednesday with support from local standout Sea Wolf.

--

-- Frank.Farrar@latimes.com, Kevin.Bronson@latimes.com

Advertisement