Localized Appreesh: Uni & Her Ukelele

12.06.11 - 11:52 am | Emily Savage |

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A girl and her uke.

Localized Appreesh is our weekly thank-you column to the musicians that make the Bay. Each week a band/music-maker with a show, album release, or general good news is highlighted and spotlit. To be considered, contact emilysavage@sfbg.com.

This is the time of year when sparkly holiday affairs are everywhere. Depending on your current state of mind, these tinsel-coated, candy-caned, dreidal-spun affairs can stink like commercial biz abominations, or warm like twinkling, nostalgia-inducing winter shindigs. With San Francisco act Uni & Her Ukelele opening up for the Yule Logs (a band that just released an album called You Ruined Christmas) at Amnesia, the evening is bound for greatness. It's the seventh annual “Christmas is the Best” show, and both holiday-loving acts play clever and folky power-pop with tongue-planted-firmly-in-cheek sweetness.

Uni & Her Ukelele can't avoid the sugar, given the doe-eyed, oft-frilly skirted uke mistress at the band's helm, Heather Marie Ellison. She writes songs (and records) like 2006's “My Favorite Letter is U” and a covers album that includes “Tonight You Belong to Me” (which brings to mind the best ever use of uke in film – Steve Martin and Bernadette Peters strolling the beach in The Jerk). She even uses her signature sign-off (Ding!) to end emails. It's giving me a toothache.

Year and location of origin: 2005. Uni & Her Ukelele began in Hollywood.
Band name origin: Uni is short for Unicorn.
Band motto: Light Rock Less Talk!
Description of sound in 10 words or less: Dreamy, melodic, folk-pop that is emotional and melancholy, but also funny.
Instrumentation: Vocals and ukelele, although on the album there's a full band.
Most recent release: I'm doing a Kickstarter right now to finish my fourth full length album, Lover's Cliché.
Best part about life as a Bay Area band: There are many places to play and good bands/acts to share the bill with.
Worst part about life as a Bay Area band: At the end of the show, it's hard walking away without money.
First record/cassette tape/or CD ever purchased: Wham Make It Big.
Most recent record/cassette tape/CD/or Mp3 purchased/borrowed from the Web: I just bought Tom Petty's Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
Favorite local eatery: Green Chili Kitchen.