Biography
The Canadian ensemble Tasseomancy, fronted by identical siblings Romy and Sari Lightman, navigates a sonic landscape spanning fragile indie folk to shadowy, eccentric dream pop. Natives of Toronto who still call the city home, the Lightman twins shifted temporarily to Halifax, Nova Scotia, in the late 2000s while attending school and launched Ghost Bees during that period. That project issued the 2008 acoustic EP of offbeat folk titled Tasseomancy through Youth Club Records. In 2010 the sisters adopted the name Tasseomancy for their own group after folding electric instruments and reverb into an altered aesthetic. Their first full-length under the new moniker, Ulalume, surfaced in 2011 via Out of This Spark and Turf Records. During those years the siblings also performed with Katie Stelmanis’ electro-pop endeavor Austra and appeared on that act’s 2011 release Feel It Break along with 2013’s Olympia. The Lightmans put out their own 2013 EP, Braid. Wind Is Coming., then followed with the 2015 long-player Palm Wine Revisited on Healing Power Records, which featured several guests and added Evan Cartwright and Johnny Spence as fresh members. Bella Union later issued the group’s more expansive third album, Do Easy, in 2016.