Candace

Candace (fka Is/Is) infuses their music with a sense of mystery and brooding atmosphere. Psychedelic and shoegaze influences emerge throughout the catalogue: th...e atmospheric tones of early Verve, a droning pulse reminiscent of Loop. Some songs bounce gleefully forward with a pop sensibility, while some keep a cool distance and move with a language distinctly their own.
Candace began as Is/Is in late summer of 2009 with Sarah Rose, Sarah Nienaber, and Mara Appel DesLauriers. The early days brought about “This Happening” EP (2010) and the “Vowel Movements/Blackest Beat” 7” (2011). Mara moved cross-country to Portland, OR, and in 2012 the band released their debut full-length LP “III,” so named for the three drummers who played on the album. The two years following found the band cycling through drummers, with every lineup feeling more like an approximation of what the band was supposed to be, and never what it was. “Is/Is" (Manimal Vinyl, 2014) would be the last to feature any drummer but Mara. During the coldest and darkest Minnesota winter that nobody wants to remember, Sarah and Sarah recorded the wistful, ethereal bedroom-pop tape “Shadow Days” (Moon Glyph, 2015). The following spring, they also moved to Portland OR.
The reunion was nothing short of propulsive. In the spring of 2015 the band spent a week at Jackpot! Recording Studio with longtime friend and co-producer, Neil Weir of The Old Blackberry Way. The following fall, three of those songs were self-released on a limited-edition cassette, “Return to Zero,” coinciding with a West Coast tour and brief stint opening up for King Khan & The BBQ Show.