White Magic

Brooklyn's dark indie folk duo White Magic features singer/guitarist/pianist Mira Billotte and guitarist Doug Shaw. Prior to White Magic, Billotte played in Quix*o*tic with her sister Christina (also of Slant 6); the earliest version of the band also included drummer/bassist Miggy Littleton, also of Ida, and guitarist/drummer Andy Macleod from California Speedway. The band played in New York for a couple of years and appeared on the United Bamboo collection before Drag City signed them in 2003. That spring, White Magic played the All Tomorrow's Parties festival and issued their debut EP, Through the Sun Door. In 2005, Billotte played a few shows as White Magic, accompanied only by guitarist Shaw, and this became the band's permanent lineup. The group also appeared on a CD sampler sponsored by Tylenol that year. Billotte and Shaw began recording White Magic's debut album in 2005 as well, collaborating with Gang Gang Dance's Tim DeWitt — who played with the band occasionally in its earliest days — as well as other musicians for a more eclectic, layered sound than before. The results, Dat Rosa Mel Apibus, arrived in fall 2006, followed by the Dark Stars EP, which featured DeWitt as well as Dirty Three drummer Jim White, in 2007. That year, White Magic also contributed a version of "As I Went Out One Morning" to the soundtrack to the Bob Dylan biopic I'm Not There, and a live album, New Egypt, recorded for Southern Records' Latitudes series.