What tales lurk behind the pages of He’s My Brother, She’s My Sister? ‘Days not so swell’ among the fur-clad and feather donning on Echo Park rooftops. Midnight voyages in Joshua Tree to abandoned churches. Psychedelics. Folk tale riddles and singalongs passed between two siblings, a tap dancer, a stand-up bass, and a drummer’s restless hairdo. Style, they’ve got, dressed for a glam party somewhere back in time. Melody, sister Rachel’s a sultry swig of whiskey (almost begs for an ONJ cover). Bro Rob sounds like he’s waking up all the time with night still nipping at his shiny leather heels. The rhythm splits between bass, drum, and tap dancing machine woman. Each takes a pattern and lovingly beats the crap out of it.

Half the band’s songs can only be heard live so the titles are a mystery, but they involve crazy women, easy men, probably the misguided doing the best they can, and being conceived in the back of a car by your mother and uncle Sam. A rousing ‘go get em’ cover of “Kansas City” gave a song that’s been around since the dark ages a new lightness of spirit and cajones. Moreover, when Bro + Sis turn on backwoods accents, it reminds me that sometimes life takes on that kind of inflection. Sometimes life is a stroll on today’s wild frontier. With the strum of a banjo and the click of a heel, He’s My Brother, She’s My Sister drops you at that dusty saloon of your heart—wearing probably the coolest outfit in the room.

—Daiana Feuer

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