Blanche Blanche Blanche revolves around the songwriting duo of Sarah Delaney Smith and Zach Phillips, who draw on additional players for their concerts. The band’s twitchy, domestically captured material layers elaborate parts performed on inexpensive vintage keyboards beneath Smith’s flat yet tender vocals, all laced with a strong current of the ridiculous.
The pair began working together in Brattleboro, Vermont, under the name Sord and issued several cassettes on Phillips’ OSR Tapes imprint starting in 2007. Blanche Blanche Blanche’s debut came with the 2011 Night People cassette Songs of Blanche Blanche Blanche, followed the same year by the Feeding Tube Records 7" “Talk Out Loud.” Their first vinyl long-player, Wink with Both Eyes, surfaced on Night People in April 2012 and drew widespread notice from independent music sites. That same year the prolific outfit placed four further albums on the market: Papas Proof via La Station Radar, the one-sided LP 2wice 2wins and Our Place on Feeding Tube, and Open Session Rock on OSR Tapes.
Thereafter the group adopted a complete-band configuration that incorporated guitars and acoustic drums, tilting their sound toward a jittery punk stance while retaining the dense compositional style. Early in 2013 the Adagio830 label released the 7" “Scam,” credited to B B B and the Birds of Paradise. Wooden Ball arrived on NNA Tapes in March; although still keyboard-driven, the record displayed sharper execution and lyrics that addressed broader social themes. After moving to Brooklyn the band tracked Breaking Mirrors, its first proper studio effort and the initial release featuring the expanded lineup. Blanche Blanche Blanche also appeared on Fits & Starts, percussionist David Van Tieghem’s album issued by RVNG Intl. Their ninth album, Hints to Pilgrims, was recorded in Brooklyn, mastered by Kramer, and released on OSR Tapes in 2014; the same label simultaneously put out Termite Music, a two-hour cassette compiling live tracks and unreleased material.
Recording and touring halted in 2014. Phillips kept OSR Tapes active as a mail-order “offline” concern, continued issuing solo cassettes, produced and engineered sessions for other artists, and added Wurlitzer piano to Jib Kidder’s Teaspoon to the Ocean. Blanche Blanche Blanche eventually resumed activity, issuing the full-length Seashells on Reading Group on 1 January 2021.
