An old Mercedes, windows down, parked on the edge of Griffith Park at sunset. Inside, two kids wearing extremely shaggy coats sing in telepathic harmony while the one in back plays shuffling accompaniment, somewhere between T. Rex and '70s George Harrison, on an acoustic guitar. It's weird to think that the song has another life as track #1 on a big, lavishly produced EP called Candy, out last month on Interscope. The man behind it all (and the guy in the back seat) is Garrett Borns, an L.A. dweller whose October single "10,000 Emerald Pools" has racked up almost 300,000 SoundCloud listens. Joining him is Zella Day, a fast-rising artist in her own right. The two of them met while singing around a campfire, as you do.
This version of the song is part of a series of acoustic videos captured live all over the place -- an unusual way to promote a big electric pop release, maybe? "Whenever I write music, I want to make sure it'll translate as stripped down as possible," Borns says. "The acoustic version really shows the vulnerability of a song, and I like that. I hope people find the song first like that and then hear the recorded version."
Look for a BØRNS full-length and a tour with Misterwives next year. BTW, Borns' and Day's coats are by Spell and Beulah, respectively. Both came from Day's closet. "We looked at each other and were like, 'That's kind of rad,'" Borns explains. "Shaggy yeti style."