Dani Fernandez is a Sacramento-scene musician and producer best known as one half of the band Sister Crayon, where she handles the project's electronic production, programming drum machine and synthesizer.[1][2] Her arrival turned what had been Terra Lopez's quiet solo singer/songwriter material into the fuller, beat-driven sound that defined Sister Crayon.[3] Fernandez is self-taught, and both she and Lopez cite Flying Lotus and James Blake as key electronic-production influences.[4]
At a glance
- Plays drum machine (MPC/808-style beats) and synthesizer in Sister Crayon.[1][5]
- Joined Lopez roughly a year after Lopez's prior band broke up, forming the original Sister Crayon duo.[3]
- The pairing introduced hip-hop elements into Lopez's music; their first song together was "Lavender Liars."[3]
- Sister Crayon is repeatedly described as a Sacramento / "native Sacramento" / hometown band.[3][5][2]
- By 2015, Sister Crayon had pared back down to the Fernandez–Lopez duo for the album Devoted.[2]
Background
Fernandez's father is a percussionist who introduced her to congas and djembes at an early age, forming the foundation of her rhythmic approach.[4] According to the East Bay Express, she and Lopez connected through mutual friends in 2007 and became inseparable — best friends, bandmates, and eventually roommates — before Sister Crayon took shape.[4]
Role in Sister Crayon
Fernandez is the production and electronics anchor of Sister Crayon. At the band's first full-band performance (Luigi's Fun Garden, Feb. 7, 2009) she worked an MPC beat machine, playing a straight-ahead 808 beat that anchored the set.[1] Coverage consistently credits her as the drum-machine and synthesizer/synth-keyboardist of the project.[3][5]
The creative origin of Sister Crayon traces to Fernandez joining Lopez. Lopez's prior band had broken up, leaving her performing solo for about a year until she met Fernandez; the two "just clicked" and began pooling Lopez's influences — notably incorporating hip-hop elements — into the music.[3] Their first collaborative song was "Lavender Liars," built from Lopez's organ part with Fernandez's beats over it.[3] The band operated as a Lopez–Fernandez twosome for roughly a year before keyboardist Genaro Ulloa(-Juno) joined.[3]
According to the East Bay Express, Fernandez's entry into Sister Crayon was entirely informal: Lopez showed her an MPC 1000 sampler, the two began writing songs together, Fernandez played a house show with Lopez — and simply never left. No formal recruitment conversation ever took place.[6]
Fernandez is also a co-writer. The debut LP Bellow was originally conceived as a five-song EP written by Lopez and Fernandez.[5] By the 2015 album Devoted, the project had been pared from a four-piece back down to the Fernandez–Lopez duo, with Fernandez's "carefully crafted sonic workings" paired with Lopez's lyrics.[2]
Local status
Sister Crayon — and by extension Fernandez as a core member — is consistently treated as a Sacramento act. Submerge calls them "fellow Sacramentans," a "Sacramento band," "local band," and a "Native Sacramento duo," and Lopez refers to Sacramento as the band's "hometown."[3][5][2] On that basis Fernandez is classified local (Greater Sacramento origin). Note that by 2015 Fernandez was living in Oakland, with the duo demoing material between Sacramento and Oakland; this reflects relocation, not a change in the band's Sacramento origin.[2]
Production and discography (via Sister Crayon)
- Loneliness Is My Mother's Gun (2009) — Lopez's bedroom recordings, released via Chicago label Juene Été Records; Fernandez appears on a couple of tracks.[3]
- Enter Into Holy (Or)ders — the band's first release as a full band, recorded at The Hangar, produced by the band with engineer Scott McChane/McShane.[3][5]
- Bellow (2011) — debut LP, recorded over roughly a year and a half at The Hangar with Scott McShane; originally a five-song EP written by Lopez and Fernandez before five more songs were added.[5]
- Cynic EP (April 16, 2013) — released on Fake Four Records after the band had trimmed from a four-piece back to the Fernandez–Lopez duo.[6]
- Devoted (2015) — the first record the duo did "on their own," demoed between Sacramento and Oakland and tracked in St. Augustine, Florida with producer Wes Jones; Omar Rodriguez-Lopez of The Mars Volta also stepped in to help produce. The duo aimed for a beat-heavy, minimalist sound foregrounding vocals.[2]
Sister Crayon released music across at least three labels over its run: Fake Four Inc., Manimal Vinyl, and Carpark Records.[7]
Name change to Rituals of Mine
In July 2016, Sister Crayon announced they were changing their name to Rituals of Mine, coinciding with signing to Warner Bros. Records and re-releasing the album Devoted.[8] The Warner Bros. deal was unexpected — according to the Sac State Made blog, Lopez recalled: "When we first found out, Dani and I literally cried, just because it was so unexpected."[9]
DJ sets and scene activity
Beyond the band, Fernandez has performed DJ sets in Sacramento. She and Lopez played a special DJ set at Broadacre Coffee's all-ages live-music night (bill of Jan. 27, 2012), part of a series Lopez hosted there.[10] In July 2015 the duo DJ'd at Dive Bar ahead of a Devoted release show, spinning footwork, Chicago juke, deep house and drum-and-bass-heavy material they cite as influences on Sister Crayon's sound.[2]