“Bounced around like a buoy on rough waters,” Fred Perry Subculture

Posted Wednesday, September 15th, 2010 at 4:08 pm

White Mystery is a Chicago-based garage rock duo comprised Alex and Francis White. The former, although still in her mid-20s, has been a fixture on the U.S. underground music scene for nearly a decade. Best known for leading Miss Alex White and the Red Orchestra (In the Red Records), Alex sings and plays guitar in White Mystery. Her younger brother Francis doesn’t so much play the drums – he dwarves a small kit, beating it mercilessly into submission. The siblings also sport matching nests of bright red hair. Given the band name, line-up, instrumentation and natural aesthetics, White Mystery is like some alternate reality version of The White Stripes.

Stateside caught White Mystery on a bill at Chicago’s Empty Bottle recently and was wowed by the duo’s raw intensity. Alex bounced around like a buoy on rough waters while Francis flailed behind the drums, somehow managing to keep the beat. They tore through the future classics “Party”, “Switch it Off” and “Ye Olde Stone”.

So far the band has released a split 7” single with kindred spirits Black Apple, the “Powerglove” EP on Hozac Records, which sold out quickly, and a self-titled LP/CD available through the band’s official Website.

Called “straightforward and stupidly catchy” by Pitchfork, White Mystery has also been featured on top U.S. blogs Brooklyn Vegan, Glorious Noise and The Music Slut. American audiences have a couple of opportunities to catch the pair live this fall, as they support Detroit’s reunited The Gories in both groups’ hometowns.