Above: Lindy Vision. Photograph Courtesy of Lindy Vision.
Lindy Vision (@lindyvisionmusic) consists of three sisters—Dorothy (Dee Dee) on lead vocals and keyboards, Natasha on rhythm guitars and backup vocals, and Carla Cuylear on drums, synth beats, and backup vocals. Dee Dee and Carla are pharmacists, and Natasha is an attorney. They live, work, and make music in Albuquerque. “Lindy,” as in “Lindy Hop,” was inspired by the dances in Malcolm X’s autobiography, and “Vision” comes from the trio’s mantra to always dream. (They call their fans “visionaries.”) Their fifth album, Adult Children, Part I, is available.
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Natasha: We’re a three-person band, all sisters of Native American (Jicarilla Apache) and African American heritage, born and raised in Las Cruces. We started performing around 2014.
Dee Dee: It’s hard to say how long we’ve been playing, since it happened so organically, but it’s been over a decade. We grew up in a rough environment in Las Cruces, kind of as loners. There was nobody else like us, and music connected us with a community and with ourselves. We listened to a lot of Outkast, Lauryn Hill, the Clash, Radiohead. We just started playing music because we felt like weirdos and it was a form of self-expression.
Natasha: Our album release party at Meow Wolf was electric. You can’t get that feeling anywhere else—when people get your music and sound, it’s awesome. Before we go on, there’s some anxiety, like Is my equipment gonna blow out? or Will the lights be right? or How is the audience gonna receive us?
Dee Dee: It’s so much fun to have people singing and dancing. You know you did something right. We feed off that energy. We’re following the group A Tribe Called Red. We’ve always loved MIA and Santigold. We’re still digesting their music. They capture a tribal sound and make it modern with disco, techno, and hip-hop elements. They are all these people of color making so many different sounds.
Carla: I’m always thinking ahead about our style, and the designs we’re gonna do for a show. Films from the eighties inspire me most, like Liquid Sky, with all its glow-in-the-dark elements. And the cult film Holy Mountain. I’m also inspired by pop musicians—Lady Gaga’s costumes, Madonna, and David Bowie.
Dee Dee: We enjoy glam rock and fun, loud outfits, things you wouldn’t wear day to day. We wore our weirdest outfits for the album release party. Carla made a lot of stuff light up. She even had a neon bra that lit up.