Petra Haden and Miss Murgatroid

Hearts & Daggers

File Under Music

Multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Petra Haden collaborates again with accordionist Miss Murgatroid on Hearts and Daggers, released on File Under Music (no relation to this blog). Haden possesses a chameleon-like versatility. She’s involved in various collaborations with members of her musical family, records as a solo artist, and has become something of a YouTube sensation for a cappella renditions of Journey and covering the Who.

Hearts and Daggers explores her interest in creating chamber pop that draws upon a variety of influences: Gypsy music, Celtic folk ballads, minimalism, and classical repertoire. All this is stirred into a pot with the aforementioned classic rock inflections and a cappella layered singing to create willfully eclectic, but eminently attractive material. Murgatroid’s penchant for long, sustained harmonies has the efficacious side effect of slowing down Haden’s lightning fast musical metabolism, allowing the songs to settle; taking more organic shapes despite their disparate starting points.