One half in LA and the other in Shanghai, The Hours Strange is the bittersweet-with-a-beat electropop of singer Jette Kelly and bassist/producer Charlie Tonelli. Their songs spin out of the countless conversations the two have about books, film, photography, and — of course — music. Favorite muses include Wong Kar-Wai, Tom Waits, Haruki Murakami, Nan Goldin, and Kentucky’s finest bourbons.

Deemed “coolly carnal” by the Washington Post, with “smoky, spellbinding…vocal styling” (Okayplayer), Jette Kelly is an LA-based musician and lyricist who grew up surrounded by the Blue Ridge mountains, books, and, later, DC’s house music scene. Charlie, on the other hand, spent years in New York and Miami, launching music careers in radio and TV and working as an exec for Warner Music Group, before returning to where it all started — making beats and writing songs.