When news of a live-action Jem & the Holograms movie broke a few weeks ago, our attention immediately drifted to who would play the role as the band’s chief new wave nemesis, the Misfits. While we ran through some truly outrageous options, like Haim and the Julie Ruin, we topped our wish with Dum Dum Girls, a perfect role for frontwoman Dee Dee Penny.
We’re pretty sure that casting never materialized, but we do have a fitting side project from Penny, this one with her husband, Brandon Welchez of Crocodiles.
Together as Haunted Hearts, the duo create the type of midnight psych-gaze one would expect from a project with Dum Dum Crocodile Girls DNA. Latest single “Up Is Up But So Is Down” takes us through the smoke, and the video depicts an appropriate head-trip dance party with NYC-based drag collective Chez Deep. It’s the type of setting you suddenly wake up to after a 48-hour chemical bender.
Haunted Hearts debut album, Initiation, is out May 27 via their own label, Zoo Music World Wide.
Sign us up.
Photo by Tamaryn