The Fontaines 2016 cARTel Outdoor stage

If, after listening to The Fontaines’ debut EP, you find yourself at a loss for how to describe them, don’t worry. The brother-sister duo of Charlotte and Hank Fontaine don’t want to make music that’s easy to pin down. “We call it New-Wop,” Hank says, adding that the he really wants his music to be “swoon-worthy,” to have that indescribable sense of a song taking over your heart, a feeling he’s gotten listening to Miles Davis… and Beach House. For Charlotte, it was hearing The Drifters in grade school that made her realize what kind of sound she wanted to play with in her own music. The New-Wop of The Fontaines falls somewhere in between.