Sacramento-based Sister Crayon debuted their video for the “I’m Still The Same Person” single from their forthcoming album, Bellow (Manimal Vinyl) out 7th March, on the excellent Yours Truly site yesterday.

Something small and quiet at first, Sister Crayon began with vocalist Terra Lopez playing classical guitar and pre-programmed beats on a loop pedal to attentive house party crowds.  With the addition of members Dani Fernandez, Jeffrey LaTour, and Nicholas Suhr, Sister Crayon emerged seamlessly melding haunting balladry, rich analogue textures, and a rhythmic prowess informed by trip-hop and krautrock.  Despite the music’s dark, melancholy nature, there’s a sweetness and charisma about Lopez that immediately strikes a chord with audiences.

Live, the four-piece uses a combination of samplers, guitar, synths, and live percussion to lay down a steady foundation as Lopez builds and breaks down the songs, alternating between a hip-hop inflected cadence and a spectral croon. In the past year, Sister Crayon has created quite a stir with their inspiring performances playing alongside folks like Baths, School of Seven Bells, Busdriver and Warpaint (who they put a split 7-inch out with) among many others in their brief existence as a band.

Their forthcoming debut full-length, Bellow is full of juxtapositions that inexplicably work well together: woeful yet triumphant, expanse but also intimate. The inspiration for Bellow derives from a few places, namely the writer Fernando Pessoa who had a large influence on the record.  His curiosity and writings on death, homosexuality, longing, and general despair was the muse for the mood and tone, a tension that is present throughout.