White Magic - V32 Nov/Dec 2004

Given the spooky atmospherics of White Magic's debut e.p., Through the Sun Door, one might expect lead singer Mira Billotte to look like some kind of earthy songstress-a 70's pottery teacher perhaps with some books on wiccanism or voodoo tucked under her arm. However, the person who shows up in NYC's Washington Square Park comes as a surprise. Billotte, who is deep in the throes of recording new material, is soft-spoken and demure. In shorts and a t-shirt and with her hair pulled back, she is more Juliana Hatfield than Joan Baez. "I'm a little out of it", she apologizes, "We were in the studio late last night and we're leaving for tour tomorrow, so I'm a little bit exhausted."

It's been a busy year for Billotte and her band, who have spent the better part of 2004 playing shows in support their debut. Much of the attention the band has received is due to the fact that they make music pretty much unlike anyone else-an organic-sounding blend of bluesy guitar and rhythmic piano that bears little resemblance to the current wave of popular neo-new wave guitar bands clogging up the charts. Theirs is a modern take on American folk music that is almost crystalline in it's simplicity, epitomized by songs which feature Billotte's plaintive voice rising higher and higher over an acoustic guitar, singing lyrics such as "something is abiding / something believes / unceasing / in keeping the wolves from the door..." for an effect that is both beautiful and slightly scary. Described as everything from goth-folk to medieval, White Magic have often been lumped together with artists like Will Oldham, those who seem similarly obsessed with spirituality and gothic Americana. One reviewer went as far as to refer to the music as crepuscular (definition: of or like twilight), not a term generally bandied about when discussing indie-rock.

As a teen in suburban DC, Mira Billotte was listening to Fugazi or Rites of Spring rather than Joni Mitchell. Children of artistic parents, Billotte and her siblings were encouraged to express themselves however they pleased, prompting a young Billotte to teach herself the piano. "When I was really, really small I remember wanting to be a singer, and when I say singer I mean I wanted to be a pop singer. But then when I got to be a teenager I was too embarrassed, too scared to sing. So, I didn't think I'd ever be into music at all. Then my sister got me a bass and I started playing with a band...and it just happened. But I always thought I'd be more into playing punk rock, I certainly didn't imagine that I'd be playing the kind of music I make now."

And while White Magic have yet to release a full-length record, Mira Billotte is hardly a stranger to the music biz itself, having spent the past few years doing duty as the drummer in Quix*o*tic, the raucous DC band she shared with her older sister Charlotte. "When I got into Quix*o*tic I was like ŒYeah, I'll play drums with you, but I might eventually want to do something else' ...and then I ended up doing that for a long time. But I always wanted to explore more personal and melodic stuff." Eventually, Billotte hooked up with college pal Andy Macleod and enlisted Miggy Littleton (formerly a drummer in Ida) and started playing as White Magic. The three often trade off instruments in the band-guitar, bass, piano, drums-though Billotte spends most of her time singing while behind the piano. The band signed with Drag City in 2003 and is hard at work on a full-length that Billotte says, "will be slightly darker than the early stuff...which, itself, is already pretty dark."

"People tend to identify Œfolk' music with Joan Baez or Bob Dylan, when real folk music isn't really about that...it's much more cultural," explains Billotte, "it's more about being a music of the people." And while it's probably accurate to say that White Magic is no more "folk' music than, say, Cat Power (to whom Billotte is often compared), her music does address, albeit in a very oblique way, the same kinds of spiritual and supernatural themes so prevalent in American folk and gospel music. "That's the main thing, a very important thing, "says Billotte, "It's what I really want to express. I like to address the spiritual aspect of human life. Not many people really do that now. Most music now is about reacting to other music and trying to be cooler than someone else. It stops being about sharing an experience or honestly addressing your own personal experiences."

Perhaps the most striking thing about White Magic music is Billotte's voice itself, which veers from quiet and sweetly melodic to a full-throated howl, sometimes over the course of a single song. As it turns out, singing is something that she has grown over time to appreciate. "For me, singing has become an experience," says Billotte, "It's like a state that I get in. My experience of doing it is what I want people to have when they listen to it, so it is almost like an incantation, or like a trance state."

And what about the witchy name-White Magic? Billotte shrugs when asked, saying "I wanted the name to have several meanings, but I mostly wanted it to be about a good force, you know? Because there are all sorts of magic, I wanted it to be something positive. Magic as a formula for making something good happen. I definitely like the idea of channeling something good, making something good take shape. I don't want to channel any dark magic...there are already enough people out there doing that."

-T. Cole Rachel