Haunted Shed, Faltering Light. What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Etienne de Rocher moved to Athens, Georgia from the Bay Area in 2008 but took his sweet time assembling his current group Haunted Shed. As the story goes, Etienne (on guitar, keyboards and vocals) needed a group to provide musical ambiance for a neighborhood haunted house he’d set up in his backyard shed a number of Halloweens ago, and Athens scene veterans Dan Nettles (Kenosha Kid, on guitar) drummer Joe Rowe (The Glands) and bassist/cellist Jacob Morris (lots of stuff, from Liz Durrett and Patterson Hood to Old Smokey and Sea of Dogs) showed up. Mr. de Rocher had released a more singer-songwritery self-titled album back in 2006 while still West Coasting it, but Faltering Light, the debut album from Haunted Shed, has a lot more life to it. It’s charming and eclectic, and a trifle quirky. As Etienne himself describes the transition, “The sleepy, folky soul I had been mining in the Bay Area was all but gone and replaced with edgy, pulsing gothic soundscapes.”

Out April 2nd, Faltering Light is the second release from newly established Athens label Strolling Bones Records, a venture from New West Records owner George Fontaine Sr. The indie venture first made itself known with its 2020 release of Chattanooga sister trio Call Me Spinster’s self-titled EP. Both that and Haunted Shed’s debut were co-produced by Athens’ Drew Vandenberg.