Watch Ava Luna play a new song "Crystal Pumpkin" at Middlesex Lounge

This scrappy iPhone video doesn't do it justice, but this new song Ava Luna played at Middlesex last night is too insanely excellent to not post. On a Phoenix-presented bill last night between locals Emily Reo and Arvid Noe, the Brooklyn band played with a different rhythm than usual. To start, Ava Luna now plays as a 5-piece; formerly, they were six. And whereas in the past, singer and multi-instrumentalist Carlos Hernandez seemed to be the band's front-guy, last night singer/guitarist Becca Kauffman and singer/synth player Felicia Douglass both directed certain songs on lead vox. The most mesmerizing moment for sure though was what drummer Julian Fader told me is tentatively titled "Crystal Pumpkin," a post-punky number that finds Kauffman experimenting with punchy wordless shouts, making warped melodies out of snappy shrieks over angular, intricate drumming. Hopefully a proper version of this will appear on their next full-length, or better yet, will be recorded at the end of the month when they head to Miami to record with Jimmy Douglass (producer for Justin Timberlake, Timbaland, Missy, Aaliyah, and many more.)