Kevin Bronson on December 7th, 2017

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For a band that spent most of 2017 playing the waiting game, Moon Honey had a pretty memorable year.

While waiting for the i’s to be dotted and the t’s to be crossed on their business dealings, the band led by the duo of singer Jess Joy and guitarist Andrew Martin focused on their live shows — which, with their stage garb and accoutrements, turned into pageants of the surreal, casting spells visually and musically. And if Moon Honey weren’t playing, they were often out soaking in the scene themselves.

“When we moved here from Louisiana, it felt like everybody was waiting for us with arms wide open,” Martin says about arriving in Echo Park in the fall of 2014, meeting their musician neighbors and making fast friends. “This city has an energy, and it’s an energy that’s right at my pace.”

Over time, L.A. audiences matriculated to Moon Honey’s weird mix of mod (Martin) and mystical (Joy). Their year started with a packed show at the Echo, built to what quite possibly was the L.A. residency of the year in the summer, and climaxes with next week’s headlining date at the Teragram Ballroom. Not bad for a band that had not released any new music since 2013 before November’s unveiling of “Betta Fish.”

“Our thinking has been, ‘We don’t have any new music out there, so we’re going to have to put all our energy into the shows,’” Martin says. “That’s how we had to define who we are as a band.

“We kind of went all out during the residency and it turned out really magical — it felt like all of our favorite bands in L.A. wanted to play it.”

||| Live: Moon Honey plays the Teragram Ballroom on Dec. 14 with Kera & the Lesbians and Veronica Bianqui. Tickets.

Speaking of casting spells, Moon Honey this week released director Paul J. Meredith’s video for the single.

||| Watch: The video for “Betta Fish”

And speaking of favorites, Buzz Bands LA asked Moon Honey to make a playlist of some of their favorite songs this year by L.A. artists.

||| Stream: “2017: Moon Honey Loves L.A.”