Golden girls Christa Palazzolo and Sarah Brown met in seventh grade – they were in a ‘soccer’ team together called Mystic Ice. Based on mutual obsessions with, amongst other things, Mariah Carey and Ray Lynch-soundtracked sci-fi schlock, they teamed up with Stefanie Franciotti to form Sleep Over, a short but nonetheless adored project. Fast-forward three years and the pair are neck-deep into Boy Friend, their main focus after a messy and fractious split with Franciotti. Wonderland caught up with Palazzolo to talk Egyptian Wrinkle – Boy Friend’s debut LP – set for release in February.
How are the new songs coming across live? Are you playing much material from Egyptian Wrinkle?
Yeah, we’ve started playing the full LP live. We’re incorporating some backing tracks into sets now, too.
Egyptian Wrinkle by Boy Friend
What prompted Sleep Over’s disbandment?
It wasn’t amicable; we got along horribly as a group. Sarah and I left because…we were all friends and we were trying to record this LP and it really, really wasn’t working. It was kind of the last straw. I guess it was November of last year when me and Sarah were like: “we’ve got to get out of this, it’s just not worth it.” We really just wanted to vent some of our frustrations, so we just started writing. We released our EP in early January, which was a really fun side-project; a hobby that we weren’t taking particularly seriously.
What about the name, Egyptian Wrinkle – where did it come from?
We were driving with a couple of friends and were talking about big wave perms – just kidding around. And I was describing the kind of idea for a name I wanted for album, and somebody said those words – which we found hilarious. We both agreed that it’s actually a really cool term, and we were vibing on it for a while. We were listening to a lot of sci-fi, bass-y music – Ray Lynch and so on and had a feel for the songs that would end up on the LP. We started experimenting with weird guitar frequencies, which matched the Egyptian vibe, too.
So what inspired the album’s themes? You’ve mentioned frustrations; break-ups and miscommunication… What do you feel you’ve gotten out of your system now?
With this project, I was able to express myself way more – it was like therapy. Most of the lyrics are mine on it. I wouldn’t say it’s a break-up album; more about exploring themes of rising above, ambition and being able to explore my voice a little clearer.
Name your two favourite breakup songs…
When I moved back from New York in 2008, I’d been listening to the first Beach House album a lot. And the second one came out when I’d just left my boyfriend – the song Gila really stuck with me.
The other one would have to be Mariah Carey’s My All.
She embodies camp-as-Christmas fun. We’ve been rinsing both her Chrimbo albums in the office…
[laughs] They’re great.
Words: Jack Mills