Depth Becomes Her

In a few months, Chrissy Loftus and Nina Prendergast’s songwriting relationship will reach its five-year mark.

If that doesn’t seem an impressively long duration for the two pianists to be sharing the bench, consider this: Loftus has tickled the ivories on her own for about 12 years, while Prendergast has done it for 16 -- which is 85 percent of the time span the 19-year-old Temple University music major has been alive.

The two met over Fiddler on the Roof and a Tori Amos song while attending North Penn High School, bonded through Radiohead and a junior-year guitar rock trio, and continue to finish each other's sentences. Together these classically trained performers front their rock band, Trace Fury, with dueling Casios and intricate harmonies, but are enamored with excursions into jazz-rock. They consider their rhythm section -- bassist Dave Kasper, drummer Matt Buckley and saxophone player Mark Gallagher -- as pivotal a part of the group as themselves, yet can't help referring to them as "our little boys" (even though the "boys" surpass them in age by about five years).

But most importantly, after already spending their short lifetimes writing music together, the frontwomen of this burgeoning Philly band are ready to pick up the pace.

"We could say we're taking things one step at a time, but it's been one step at a time for the past two years," says Prendergast over a croissant between classes. She and Loftus speak eagerly about their recently acquired "unofficial" manager, Bill Eib, and recording their new EP in an actual studio -- The Farmhouse in West Point, Pa. -- with Brett Kull of Echolyn and Grey Eye Glances behind the boards.

"We're doing this a bit more seriously now," says Prendergast. "With Norah Jones just winning album of the year, and the way our music is going -- more jazzy -- it's just kind of opened up a door for us." For clarity's sake, it's worth noting that by "jazzy" she isn't talking about breathlessly mellow Norah Jones fare, nor does she mean Kenny G-esque elevator music, despite Gallagher's prominent tenor sax.

One listen to their debut full-length, Ankle Deep, reveals medieval melodies, cascading piano parts, quirky funk grooves and ambient drone. Seeing them live kicks the energy up to more of a rock mode with the boys shifting feverishly around in the background while the girls leap off their benches and hit the keys so hard it looks painful (Prendergast actually has a nagging wrist injury that leaves her wincing by the end of many shows).

You can't quite limit their sound to Miles or Herbie; it's just very present given the chords they write around.

"I hit a point where I don't know where else to go, I don't know what else to do with a chord," says Prendergast. "And then I found out the second you throw in that little minor seventh or major seventh, it's a whole other way to go." The other definitively jazzy aspect of Trace Fury, Gallagher's sax, was purely accidental. The women knew Buckley from high school, met Kasper after posting an online ad and had already begun rehearsals as a group when their bassist suggested a jam with Gallagher.

"We knew we wanted a different instrument, but we were thinking violin, all sorts of different things," says Loftus. "Mark came in to practice and it wound up clicking, which is cool because it gives us options to do funk parts and stuff we normally wouldn't be able to do, especially with guitar." As the band works to bring their new EP to completion by the outset of the summer, they seem to be in agreement that their new material will be more focused than their home-recorded debut. It will feature live favorite "No Velvet Ropes" and Loftus' "Human," as well as a lack -- good or bad, your call -- of 15-minute ambient experiments like Ankle Deep's "Beyond the Realm."

"Matt decided to do that for no reason," Prendergast says dolefully. "He just kind of let it go off at the end."

"I think it's wonderful," counters Loftus, in her bandmate's defense. "I like listening to it, it's peaceful." Playful bickering aside, Prendergast and Loftus view the constructive criticism Trace Fury has gotten from their newfound studio mentors as a big help in molding the group. "Working with Bill and Brett, they're taking the original song and just totally rethinking the rhythm section and how they fit it in," says Prendergast.

"What we were doing before was five people writing at once, it would be too much, too busy." Loftus concurs, saying, "Now we're trying to develop one groove per song. Sometimes overlapping isn't always the best, it gets cluttered. We're trying to get clarity without sacrificing musicianship."

"It's a thin line to walk," Prendergast continues. "But it's very educational at the same time. I think I've learned more about music theory playing in this band than I have in school."

They're a confident bunch, so much so that when the band's Ladyfest slot this weekend was moved from its original place in the Sanctuary of the First Unitarian Church to a Saturday-night lineup at The North Star, featuring hip-hop queen Flo Brown and soul singer Lady Alma, they were more excited than distressed.

"It's going to be fun 'cause it will be a totally different crowd," says Prendergast. "We like to try and see what kinds of crowds we can play, we don't want to aim for a certain one. A lot of times, because we have saxophone, it definitely hits the variety rather than one specific type of listener." Prendergast sees the festival as an affirmation of everything she and Loftus have experienced since they began making music together.

"We're two girls who did this ourselves when we were 16, and I think it shows," she says. "We found our guys through ads and auditions. We were 16 years old lying to our parents about where we were going, driving down to the city and meeting 30-year-old musicians who we didn't think were good enough. Not to be snobby about it, but it was fun to be like "I didn't like him, what do you think?'" Loftus echoes the sentiment, and says with a laugh that the guys they wound up with are going to have to deal with doing women's benefits for a long time.

"They love it, though," she says. "They're all in other all-male bands, and getting to experience shows like this they wouldn't get to play otherwise. I think they dig that."

Trace Fury plays Sat., March 22, 10 p.m., $10, with Lady Alma, Flo Brown, Natural Selection and Alix Olson, The North Star, 27th and Poplar sts., 215-684-0808.

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