Boca Chica

Boca Chica plays a brand of music that shifts between lush, string-laden indie folk, quirky and wistful alt-alt country jams, and the occasional beery retro-country romp. Boiled down to its core, Boca Chica is singer/songwriter Hallie Pritts. Pritts' loping, occasionally surreal songs are best compared to other genre-bending artists such Sufjan Stevens, Iron & Wine, and Bright Eyes. Voted one of the city's best bands by the 2006 Pittsburgh City Paper poll, Boca Chica, which, incidentally, means "small mouth", has been garnering praises far and wide since they got their start in 2004. Their debut EP, done in a fiercely DIY style, attracted attention across the spectrum, with NPR featuring them on their Open Mic podcast and media outlets from LA to South Carolina dedicating words or air time to the disc. Boca Chica has also been afforded the opportunity to open for such scene-makers as Mason Jennings, Jolie Holland, The Avett Brothers, and Jennifer O'Connor. "Transform into Beasts", Boca Chica's first full-length effort, employs lush strings (Megan Williams), layered accordion riffs (David Bernabo), and tasty electric guitar (Greg Dutton) with Matt Miller (percussion) and Susanna Meyer (upright bass) providing a solid, thoughtful rhythm section. A signature of their style, Meyer and Dutton also add vocal harmony to many tracks, most notably in the Belle and Sebastian-esque "Paper Way", and the dark yet comforting, "Big Calm". In the haunting, bowed bass and accordion-heavy Blackberries and the poignant gypsy jam of Rooftops, Alleyways, TIB is clearly influenced by sound engineer David Bernabo, a man-about-the-scene in avant-garde and experimental music. Yet TIB remains very accessible. Pritts songs leave you with a taste of home. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.