Sean Lennon's girlfriend Charlotte put the Sinclairs through their paces on upcoming record.

“We had become a little spent on some of the superficiality and oversaturation of the New York music scene,” says David Hyman of the Sinclairs, which originally formed in Brooklyn around 2008. “We were having some drummer issues, and there was a foot and a half of snow outside when we responded to a San Diego Craigslist ad posted by a local drummer [John Heger, currently of Barbarian].” With an offer to get a few San Diego shows booked, “Being surfers as well as native New Yorkers, California didn’t take that much persuasion. So we basically loaded our gear and whatever else could fit into two cars, caravanned across the country, and played a gig at what was then the Void on the night we arrived.”

The band liked the local scene so much, they never left, soon renting a house in Clairemont and playing around town at the Casbah and elsewhere. “The San Diego community has been extremely supportive of us so far. It’s a much more intimate environment and obviously has better weather. These days, New York is an industry town with countless artists and venues, and it’s incredibly expensive. It’s really easy for both musicians and audiences to get a little jaded. That being said, it’s because of New York that we got to meet and befriend some really interesting artists.”

One of those artists ended up being a crucial collaborator on their upcoming album, Charlotte Muhl, girlfriend and musical partner of Sean Lennon, with whom the band has been recording in Upstate New York at Yoko Ono’s private studio. “We met them through our good friend and musical mentor as well as the producer of our first EP, Dougie Bowne.... We also attended Sean and Charlotte’s first show as the Goastt, so I guess our fates are just intertwined in that way. We’ve met Yoko a bunch but have never played with her.”

With the album being prepped for release, Muhl’s production work “definitely helped us carve out an aesthetic territory,” says Hyman. “There is no way to separate this record from her influence. She tired us out, working all night for basically five days straight. Sean showed up on the last day and played some cool synth on a track.

“Charlotte then finally slept for a few hours...she’s almost not human. She, like, doesn’t wear a coat in the winter and stuff. It’s weird.”