Fun Fun Fun Fest Artist Profile: Black Heart Procession

The Black Heart Procession could not have found a more suitable band name. Their songs mirror a triumphant march into the dark unknown. The San Diego bred band has managed to shell out five full length albums but still not much is publicized about the group's origin. What we do know is that Pall Jenkins and Tobias Nathaniel formed BHP in 1997 after their previous band, Three Mile Pilot, disbanded.

While they haven't released an album in two years, we are still eager to see their set at Fun Fun Fun Fest this weekend. Songs from their 2006 album, The Spell, have a way of seeping under the skin in the form of echoed tenderness. In "The Letter" piano and violin playfully bounce meaningful rhythms back and forth, creating the skeleton for mournful lyrics. The steadiness in each song is comforting and at the same time hauntingly seductive. This album is is much darker than the whispy, carnival-like sound of Black Heart's first album, 1. The group's layered sound is probably due to the contributions from other successful artists including drummer Joe Plummer of Modest Mouse ad Mario Rubalcaba of Pinback. Think of Black Heart Procession as a parade of eerie-powerful-badass-bluesy-melodrama.