Tasseomancy (band)

Biography

Born in c. 1985 and raised in Toronto, the Lightman twins moved to Halifax to attend university. There the sisters began performing under the moniker Ghost Bees that they described as "experimental acoustic folk".

The duo released their debut EP Tasseomancy on April 8, 2008, via Youth Club Records as Ghost Bees. The pair toured around North America in support of the record.

As the Ghost Bees project developed, new sounds and influences not heard on the original EP began to be incorporated, prompting the change to Tasseomancy in 2010. Sari Lighman explained that "we wanted to have a link to our previous band and not dismiss it entirely. It’s a progression and we wanted to keep something from it". The sound moved away from acoustic folk to a more experimental and art pop oriented direction, and included flute and steel pan instruments. They released the 7" single Health Hands b/w The Darkness of Things on the Diamond Rings' boutique label Hype Lighter in 2010. They began performing in friend Katie Stelmanis' electronic outfit Austra as touring backing singers in the same year.

The duo recorded their debut full-length Ulalume under the new name that year, produced by fellow Toronto-based musicians Taylor Kirk and Simon Trottier of the band Timber Timbre. The title of the album was taken from an Edgar Allen Poe poem. It was released on Out of this Spark/Turf Records in August 2011. When performing live, the duo were supported by Maya Postepski (drums /keyboards). They began performing in friend Katie Stelmanis' electronic outfit Austra as touring backing singers in the same year.

The band released a five track Tasseotape cassette in 2013. In 2015 the duo released a second album, Palm Wine Revisited, on Toronto DIY label Healing Power Records, and toured the US with Braids. They were joined by Johnny Spence (keyboards) and Evan Cartwright (percussion)., In November 2016 they released the 11 track album Do Easy, on Bella Union in Europe.

Name

The cover of the Tasseomancy EP featured a photograph of the sisters' great-great grandmother Clara Chernos, a Russian Jewish tea-leaf reader who moved to Canada in the 19th century during the Russian pogroms. When renaming the band in 2010, the sisters opted for the title of their debut EP, noting "We’re into tea and tea-making, our great great grandmother was a tea leaf reader and she passed it on to the rest of our family".

Albums

Singles

As Ghost Bees