The Faraway Places

California's Faraway Places began life as a Boston-based band called Solar Saturday. Guitarist/vocalist Chris Colthart, keyboardist/vocalist Donna Coppola, and bassist Jeff Wright issued a self-titled EP in 2001 on their homegrown imprint Near By, supporting it with dates opening for Papas Fritas. Colthart and Coppola then stuck with Papas Fritas, touring with them as accompanying musicians. Next came a move to Los Angeles, and the molting process to become Faraway Places. In addition to Colthart (acting as principal songwriter) and Coppola, the new unit included a rhythm section of drummer Chris Phillips and bassist Scott Barber. Faraway Places continued to operate in the psych-pop underground ferreted out by Solar Saturday before finally getting official in December 2003 with Unfocus on It (Eenie Meenie). It was a giddy, quirky, and literate pop record akin to the Elephant 6 collective, or perhaps Stereolab covering XTC. It built a polite little buzz for the band, and found European distribution through Robin Guthrie's Bella Union imprint.