Book of Shadows

The core of Book of Shadows is husband and wife Carlton and Sharon Crutcher, who describe their music as “magick through sound.” Carlton, a former and longtime member of Austin space rock vets ST 37, parlayed that band's psych vibes into Book of Shadows’ improvisational skin after he left the band in 2001. With Carlton behind the synths while Sharon’s otherworldly vocals weave through loose compositions, Book of Shadows' electronically inclined drone is very much in touch with the spiritual world. 2004's Hanged Man came first, along with Indigom, 52 minutes recorded live on KVRX. 2006’s Mantis, which included the guitar work of local experimental man Douglas Ferguson and film lady Lori Varga on Theremin, took the band's sound in another direction, more a mixture of Fursaxa’s wood-nymph drones and Tangerine Dream’s space odyssey, as did 2007’s … And Then We All Woke Up, their second for experimental Austin label Ethedrone Muzac. 2007 EP The Inner World again finds them working with an ensemble of local musicians to further the magick. – Audra Schroeder