Following a 7" single and cassette in 2011, Brattleboro, Vermont-based lo-fi duo
Blanche Blanche Blanche made their vinyl LP debut on the Night People label in April of 2012 with the astonishing
Wink with Both Eyes. The album consisted of hyperkinetic art pop miniatures played on grubby old Casio keyboards and marked by dual songwriters Sarah Delaney Smith and
Zach Phillips' deadpan, echo-covered vocals. The songs' arrangements were incredibly complex and twisted for such low-grade instruments, and while it sounded a bit sloppy at times, the touching sentimentality of tunes like "Ana's Life" and "She's Adopted" elevated this album from being merely another quirky outsider indie pop curiosity. The album resembled
Young Marble Giants' 1980 minimalist classic
Colossal Youth updated for the Tumblr era and given a few shots of an energy drink, expressing alienated perspectives with a malfunctioning attention span.
Blanche Blanche Blanche would expand their sound over several more LPs, tapes, and 7"s, eventually moving to Brooklyn and performing as a full band before breaking up in 2014, but
Wink with Both Eyes remains their most striking, affecting moment, and is one of the best underground avant pop albums of the decade. ~ Paul Simpson