Premiere: Wait. Think. Fast., ‘Count No Count’

Kevin Bronson on August 1st, 2017

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Bilingual alt-rockers Wait. Think Fast. — the husband-and-wife team of Matthew Beighley and Jacqueline Santillan Beighley, along with Tom King and various friends — were one of the shining lights of the Silver Lake/Echo Park scene during the latter part of last decade. They released their heavenly sophomore album “Luces del Sur” in 2010, and then life intervened. Their careers took the Beighleys to New York City, where Matthew did film work for Nonesuch and PBS and Jacqueline worked in production and editing for Fusion/Univision. While they continued to write songs (some earning placements in TV and film), “I was constantly anxious about exclusively focusing on our musical pursuits,” Jacqueline says.

“We don’t live in a society that rewards artists,” she explains. “As a matter of fact, these days it seems hostile towards the creative class. And unless you can monetize your art, you’re going to struggle. This crossroad — plus the fact that I wanted to start a family — really paralyzed me creatively. I feared the inevitable leap into ‘adult life,’ and having to abandon my musical and creative life. It’s a pretty brutal reality I think a lot of women have to wrestle with.”

The music on Wait. Think. Fast.’s new album “Dale Tiempo” could have addressed all those issues. But life again intervened.

Santillan Beighley’s father — “a wonderful, complicated and troubled person and the biggest influence in my life” — was killed in an automobile accident. The couple moved back to Southern California. “All of a sudden the songs and lyrics poured out, and the fear of having to choose a path to adult life disappeared,” she says. “A huge life shift had just happened, and I felt free to pursue whatever made me happy without constantly overthinking everything. Shortly after his death our daughter was born, and in between grieving, running a business, having a family and our stubborn need to write songs, this album took shape.”

Producer/engineer Jonathan Leahy helped Wait. Think. Fast. winnow some 30 songs down to those on “Dale Tiempo,” including the incantational lead track, “Count No Count,” sung in English with choral embellishments. If not the earth, you can feel life move as the Argentina-born singer pleads “to be carried along.”

||| Stream: “Count No Count”