There are scores of musicians from the '90s who don't get the chance to pull off a second act. Many of the one-hit wonders of the decade are coasting off the fumes of audiences craving nostalgia and play the grandstands of state fairs and the early afternoon schedule of your favorite musical festival. For Leisha Hailey, she is coming into Tempe's Marquee Theater on June 6 as half of her miraculous third act, the electro-pop duo Uh Huh Her.
Hailey's first act was as a member of the alternative duo The Murmurs, who are best known for the 1994 hit song "You Suck." Their dyed hair, overalls, and aggression by way of acoustic guitar made way for the likes of Alanis Morrisette. Two albums later they were swept up and forgotten. Hailey's second act was as an actress, best known for her role as the bisexual journalist Alice Pieszecki on the Showtime drama The L Word.
When Hailey met her Un Huh Her partner Camila Grey in 2007 at a party in Los Angeles, she had no idea she was an actress or an burgeoning icon in the LGBT community. Grey was formerly the bassist/keyboardist for the lo-fi indie band Mellowdrone and has worked with artists as diverse as Adam Lambert, Busta Rhymes, Tricky, and Dr. Dre.
The result was Uh Huh Her's debut EP I See Red, a dark, flirty record with sexy techno beats that contained warm harmonies that didn't seem that out of place with Hailey's work with The Murmurs. In 2010, the duo (who take their name from the 2004 PJ Harvey album) released their debut full length titled Common Reaction, which found inspiration in the glistening goth dance music of the '80s. Nocturnes, which continued in that musical vein, was released in 2011 shortly after news broke that Hailey and Grey were escorted off a Southwest Airlines flight for kissing each other in a manner that was characterized as "excessive."
Now that electronic music is bigger than ever, the time seems right for Uh Huh Her to return to the fray. Their latest album, titled Future Souls, takes it's inspiration from early Depeche Mode albums and the Pet Shop Boys with a lyrical focus on science and religion. The result is an album that is more focused on beats (Grey brought in some of her friends from the hip-hop world to assist) than feelings, so be prepared to move when Uh Huh Her take the stage.
Uh Huh Her is scheduled to play the Marquee Theatre on Friday, June 6.
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