This week’s episode of The Bay Bridged Podcast features San Francisco’s The Passionistas, a quartet whose mix of indie pop and art-rock, filtered through a uniquely fun and creative sense of aesthetics, has garnered them a lot of attention around the Bay Area. Most recently, the band won an award at the “Video Makes The Radio Star” contest for their video for “Y2K,” which demonstrates the strong visual component that informs much of the band’s work, including their energetic live show.

But although there are goals of Passionistas clothing line and perfume, the band members are committed to expressing their shared vision first and foremost through music that critics have complared to bands like The Feelies and Television Personalities. While the four are committed to having fun without pretension and self-effacingly profess a limited ability to play their instruments, God’s Boat establishes them as a band to be taken seriously. Their debut album, released earlier this year, is packed with deviously catchy melodies and nervy stripped-down rock.

We sat down with the band a couple of weeks ago at their practice space to discuss their debut album, their beginnings as a group, and where the band members see the project headed next. To that end, the episode features three songs from God’s Boat as well as one brand new exclusive song from their more recent recording sessions with Greg Ashley.

You can catch the group next week at a free “Locals Only” show at Cafe du Nord:

Monday, November 19th
Cafe du Nord
with Forever, Wild Gold, and Tim Cohen of Black Fiction
9pm, FREE

Check out more from The Passionistas at the band’s MySpace page. You can pick up God’s Boat from New and Used Records and on iTunes. You can also head to Youtube to find the band’s plethora of videos as well as the excellent New and Used Records-produced documentary series following their exploits.

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