The founding members of Whitewash, Jon Ben-Menachem (bass) and Sam Thornton (guitar) met while studying at NYU and immediately the duo began playing along to the Ween catalog before deciding that they’d rather be making bedroom studio-based recordings with home-made instruments and gear. Ben-Menachem later met Evan Giazman (drums) during auditions for NYU’s jazz programs – and Ben-Menachem convinced Giazman that he could succeed outside of jazz drumming, and from there Giazman joined in their project. As a trio the group covered Led Zeppelin, Mac DeMarco (who I personally find abhorrent) and Thee Oh Sees while trying to figure out what they should be doing with themselves creatively. 

With the addition of Giazman’s then-roommate Aram Demirdijan (rhythm guitar), the band began to formulate their own sound by experimenting with things like noise rock and bossa nova. A year of writing and recording wound up becoming the quartet’s totally DIY album Fraud in Libson produced entirely on Ben-Menachim’s laptop. 

“Street Faces” is the first single heavily leans on the psychedelic side, complete with time signature change and rapid changes in chord progression; in fact, the song is essentially three different movements linked together by the song’s lyrics and the overarching mood of the material. Overall, it’s trippy and garage-y in a way that reminds of Raccoon Fighter – but much more playful.