Escape Into Life

The Equines: Hearts on Faces

Album Cover for Hearts on Faces

The Equines are an indie pop act birthed from front-porch jams and blood relations, with electrified instruments and drums nestled in the whimsy of mandolin and xylophone. Beatbox Dan says we sound like Back to the Future Prom Night. We say we sound like fun.

1. Elephant in the Room
2. Baby Teeth
3. Alice
4. The Narwhal Song
5. Out To Pasture
6. Easy St
7. Broken Up Static

The Equines (a.k.a. Maid Mosephine and the Equines), from Sarasota, Florida, started as naught but a funny name for band. Mosephine then got serious-ish and started writing songs. Andrew Sink joined as an equine soon after, playing cello. The other equines found their way one way or another (following their noses, perhaps, as the music smells sweet) and in October 2008 started playing as a band. Now they tell bad jokes instead of being a joke. Their favorite part of playing music is seeing people dance and hearing afterward from strangers-turned-friends that the lyrics struck a chord somewhere within.

The Equines just released their first studio-recorded EP, “Hearts on Faces,” in November 2009 and are quickly gathering momentum. Within the past months the Equines have traveled far away from home while remaining deeply rooted in the revival of the local music scene, lending couches and blankets to national acts and booking shows for a wealth of new local talent. Several members of the Equines created Finch House – an umbrella collective and multimedia forum for artists, musicians, and go-getters alike – which can be viewed at www.finchhouse.com.

Pirate or princess, the Equines will take you to a magical place. And now that they’ve got a record out, you can visit there as much as you want. – Tim Sukits, Creative Loafing

Although the Equines are now known for dancey numbers and snazzy outfits, the band was sprung from quite humble beginnings. Driven by a new-found need for an outlet, Mosephine started the band without calluses on her fingers or knowledge of rock-and-roll history, just playing random chords in search of a melody to put to pre-existing lyrics. She put the original recording of “Elephant in the Room” online in May 2008, a day after it was written and a week after she learned to play her first 2-chord song. Mikey, her brother, started jamming along on his drum kit from the next room over. After a series of open mic “networking sessions” and porch jams, the Equines hatched in its present form among a nest of talented bands in Sarasota, FL.

Erin Murphy – guitar, vocals
Mike Murphy – drums
Andrew Sink – bass
Greg Ferris – xylophone, homemade Von Braun 15 noise machine
Jeannine Blewitt – mandolin back-up vocals