Sacred Destinies‘s dulcet boy-girl harmonies come as a surprise to many, even the duo. The band’s origin: Charlyne Yi and Jet Elfman were previously of far more aggressive bands — she was the singer of garage-punk outfit The Rangdangs, and he was guitarist/vocalist in the Angelean experimental indie flavored Wide Streets. They both yelled. A lot.
"I had no idea that he had the most angelic voice in the whole world till we jammed one night," says Charlyne.
Soon after a new band was formed. Synth and guitar intertwined as voice carried voice into the beginnings of a folk sound far different from the duo’s previous bands. Jet already knew their name.
"I had so much fun playing music with him, I jokingly asked, "What’s our band called?" And without any hesitation he looked back at me and answered, "Sacred Destinies," like he had known for an eternity."
With only one song finished and a gig set in Colorado, Jet and Charlyne threw together a ragtag tour, pushing themselves to write more songs together. Somewhere along the way, things got weird and magical.
"Jet also found a glowing sword at the bottom of a swamp where I was drowning, he taught me to swim, we used the magic sword to slay some monsters and save a sandwich from an evil sorcerer, which we shared after our great adventure."
Sacred Destinies are currently in recording sessions, having played on numerous occasions at The Smell and Pehrspace. Their prowess is also featured in the musical score for Bobcat Goldthwait’s recent documentary of comedian Barry Crimmins: Call Me Lucky. Listen to the hauntingly beautiful demo "Storks and Mosquitos", a first taste of more to come. – Ryan Mo, photo credit: Melissa Ramirez