The Lava Children is Sherri West and Taylor Clark, two Okies who've been living in sin since 1996. And with their self-titled debut mini-LP, out May 26th on Graveface, they've created eerie masterpieces that bring about feelings of nostalgia while immediately making the listener aware that they are witness to something completely uncommon. From the dreamy, weirdly programmed ColecoVision-on-the-fritz nonsense of opening track, “I Am a Pony,” to the underwater opium cabaret wash of “Particles,” to the discordant, drunk music box stagger of “Troll,” every track on this mini-LP bears the same distinctive stamp of not sounding a whole lot like anything else you’ve heard.

Recorded in a secluded mountain fortress in Altadena, CA, The Lava Children is a fascinating listen. It may have been found stuck in an ice block in the far-flung pitch-black night of the frozen tundra or growing out of a patch of moss and fungus on the side of a mighty California redwood tree. Or it could have been found buried in an Egyptian desert wasteland, firmly clutched to the now-hollow chest of some bygone dusty old corpse. . . and it just might be cursed. Close your eyes, turn off all the lights, and turn this album up. See if the little hairs on the back of your neck aren’t immediately standing at full attention as you find yourself awash in weird, half-remembered memories of playing with a dog you had when you were five years old, deep in the swiftly darkening woods and far from home.