Mrs. Jones' Cookies

iTunes Review

San Francisco’s fertile psych-pop scene has nurtured a huge number of bands, with occasional overlap a fortunate by-product. Sandwitches features two members who partnered with Sonny Smith for the wonderfully kooky Earth Girl Helen Brown project, and those members also performed at one time with Tim Cohen and his Fresh & Onlys. It’s like one big, happy family in the City by the Bay! Sandwitches stand solidly on their own, however, as a quirky, female trio with a unique folk-pop sound that is both dark and light, sweet and sour. Their sophomore release opens with the ominous, jangling guitar of “In the Garden,” a song carried by a delightfully disconcerting vocal trill that sets the tone for everything ahead. Songs like “Over the Moon” and “Lightfoot” are what Patsy Cline might sound like were she in a NorCal indie band, and the haunting, gothic-flavored “Heaviest Head In the West” recalls San Francisco’s Tarnation of years back. There is a mysterious, shadowy kind of beauty at work here — laced with a faint whiff of ‘60s aromas —that makes Mrs. Jones Cookies a subtle and sneaky platter of deliciousness.