bio

Every few years it seems like the historically fruitful music community of Athens, Georgia births a recording that both translates and transcends the tangled beauty of the Classic City. From start to finish, Haunted Shed’s gorgeous debut album overflows with this complicated beauty – not just the glowing and radiant grace of Athens, but also its darker charms that occasionally bloom from the inherent shadows. 

Fronted by lifelong musician and songwriter Etienne de Rocher, Haunted Shed sometimes sounds like it evolved from the West Coast’s lineage of late 20th century indie rock. Other times it sounds like there is a new genre happening here, right before our ears: something that unravels familiar sounds from the past to weave into brand new patterns and shapes. 

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origin

In 2008, I walked away from a budding career as a songwriter in the Bay Area. Maria and I had a newborn daughter and a two year old son, and Athens Georgia seemed like a great place for her to take a break as the breadwinner and let me go full bore as a touring sideman with some carpentry on the side. The house we had bought sight unseen, a rambling funky victorian nestled in a leafy old corner of town, was in reality a maze of tenements with crumbling walls, a few space heaters and a camping stove. We had to stay with friends for a month while I did my best to right a sinking ship. Maria quickly realized she needed to go back to work as I took care of the kids and the house. The next few years were touch and go, but life in Athens was everything it wasn't in Oakland. Impromptu porch hangs, warm nights walking to rock shows, and kids running around the neighborhood.

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