Growing up in LA’s San Fernando Valley, Molly Williams, known by her stage name MOONZz, started playing piano and developed a love for music at a young age. By the time she was 25, she’d released “Satisfy,” a flirty, empowering electronic hit that ended up in a Victoria’s Secret commercial. She then went on to perform at Coachella and Electric Forest, open for Jai Wolf and ODESZA, and release two EPs, Trust Cycles(2016) and Aftershock(2018).
Her latest EP, Modern Ritual (out March 6), explores “the patterns and actions that define your life as well as the lives of your network and beyond,” she explains. The EP’s eponymous song, “Modern Ritual,” for instance, was originally written about the LA “ritual” of canceling plans — though she ended up giving it a more positive spin, her sultry voice singing about “webs of my forgotten friends / sending love to all of them.” The EP is danceable and catchy from beginning to end, and among its other themes are “self-love, letting go of expectations, feeling helpless and empowered, and falling in love,” says Williams.
“Runnin’,” the first single off Modern Ritual, does what MOONZz does best: inspires and uplifts. “I’ve been cut down like a diamond / trying to move with the lightning / always been quick on my toes / follow where the chaos goes,” it opens, building toward a chorus that assures listeners, “I’m not done running.”
“The song is a message to myself to keep on fighting for what I want and what I deserve,” she says. “I think a big part of MOONZz is showing the duality of struggle and breakthrough and all that comes from the struggle.” The new album is full of motivational messages like this; the fun, upbeat “Love Myself” features melodic “oohs” alongside the refrain “I just gotta love myself,” and “Battles” reminds listeners, “I gotta pick and choose my battles” and “I look for blessings in my life.”
Women’s empowerment has always been part of MOONZz’s platform, but she doesn’t limit that message to women. “My music is for everyone, and I’ve always felt that way,” she says. “I preach empowerment because everyone should get support, opportunities, resources, and encouragement. I want to be that resource for people.” She accomplishes this not just through her music but also on social media, with fun Instagram posts about individuality, overcoming self-doubt, and gratitude.
MOONZz, who will soon announce several shows around LA and elsewhere, cites her biggest influences as Thom Yorke, Kevin Parker, Greg Kurstin/The Bird and The Bee, and Fiona Apple. But her latest album was also inspired by the music of Sudan Archives, Victoria Canal, Moses Sumney, Emily King, and Garden City Movement. She describes Modern Ritual as “more cohesive” than her previous albums. “The harmonies are more fluid and I feel vibrationally connected to the details and colors of each record,” she explains. “I’m in a really happy place in my life, and it shows.”
“We should be emotionally intelligent instead of brute-force aggressive, collaborative instead of competitive, and pursuing a relationship that is linked and not ranked,” says Kiran Gandhi. Known by her stage name Madame Gandhi, she spoke with Audiofemme earlier this week between a trip to India and a U.S. tour stopping in LA, Denver, and Brooklyn. “That’s a very feminist style of leadership regardless of your gender identity.”
Gandhi has been advocating for these values, which she considers part of fourth-wave feminism, ever since she made headlines for free-bleeding while running the London Marathon on her period in 2015. Even before that, she played drums on M.I.A.’s recordings, and she’s also drummed for the likes of Kehlani and Thievery Corporation. She released her first EP as a solo artist, Voices, in 2016, and her latest album Visions came out last year to critical acclaim.
Gandhi describes Visions as a collection of music about “looking inward to imagine your best self outward.” She elaborates, “The Instagram inspiration culture around posting things that make you feel good is so popular because all of us are motivated to get that stimuli externally, but for me, the times when I’ve really made progress with my mental health have been when I’ve taken the time to ask myself what sounds like it would make me happy and what matters to me. Each song speaks to that theme in its own way.”
The video for the album’s latest single, “See Me Thru” — which Gandhi says describes her “vision for a healthy relationship” — gained attention not only for its depiction of queer love but also for Gandhi’s decision to work with an entirely female and gender-nonconforming cast and crew, which she did for the “Top Knot Turn Up” video as well.
“I feel more comfortable and respected by other women,” she explains. “To collaborate with anyone, people have to believe that if they take their own opinion or the other person’s opinion, the result will be fruitful no matter what. And I find that to be the case when I’m with other women based on a heightened sense of care for a person’s well-being. With men, there’s a lot of talking down, a lot of lack of respect for my contribution.”
Gandhi is preparing to release an EP consisting of remixes of songs from Visions, the first being a “See Me Thru” remix by DJ Sarah Farina, who imbues the track’s angelic harmonies and infectious rhythms with magical-sounding instrumentals and warps Gandhi’s already dream-like voice for an almost psychedelic effect. Farina, who remixed the album’s other songs as well, works with a style she’s dubbed “rainbowbass,” incorporating bass-heavy footwork, futuristic beats, R&B, and UK Funky.
Gandhi’s other recent projects include drumming for Oprah Winfrey’s 2020 Vision Tour (which she describes as “incredible,” as she’s a huge Oprah fan) and playing at the Bulova brunch at the Grammy museum during this year’s Grammys. “I like bringing my drumming and energy and positive vibes to more traditional spaces,” she says. At SXSW this year, she’ll participate in nine events total, including a panel discussion titled “How To Be Political In An Apolitical World” and a performance at the Women of the World Showcase presented by She Shreds x Word Agency.
Photo Credit: Djeneba Aduayom
As Gandhi takes over the world, her aim is giving people music that’s empowering rather than oppressive. “So often, when I go to the gym or in a dance club setting, I always hear the newest music, and I’m just kind of aghast at how we tolerate misogyny in this culture,” she says. “I’m not here to tell other people what to write about or sing about, but I am here to provide an alternative. Making music that beat-wise is exciting and interesting but providing lyrics that don’t contribute to the oppression of anyone else is very important to my mission.”
She also hopes to empower young people to make their own music and use it to express their thoughts, which has led her to work with organizations such as Beats by Girlz and Girls Make Beats. “As a young person, I was given piano and singing lessons, but nobody taught me how to write a song — it was just to regurgitate the song someone else wrote, and that education is so problematic,” she says. “You don’t develop the skillset of owning your own voice, telling your own story.”
Gandhi walks the walk of supporting and uplifting the people around her. During our phone call, she spoke in a confident, kind tone that made me feel genuinely appreciated, ending our conversation by declaring, “We killed it!” She embodies the paradox of being aggressively kind, firmly and unwaveringly soft, and the world needs more of that.
Catch Madame Gandhi live in Brooklyn at Elsewhere on March 10th, and follow her on Instagram for ongoing updates.
In the first lines of her new single, “Do You Miss Me Yet,” Asheville-based singer-songwriter Anna Lynch sings, “Do you miss me yet/ Or are you watching the phone?/Am I on your mind/ Or am I already gone?” It’s one of the most present and poignant songs on her lush, bittersweet new album, Apples in the Fall, the much-awaited follow-up to her 2013 self-titled debut.
On the album’s cover, drawn by Colin Derham, Lynch brandishes an apple in the strong pose of Rosie the Riveter. It’s a nod to her roots in Sebastapol, CA, once known as the “Gravenstein Apple Capital of the World” before being overtaken by wine vineyards. “The apple industry died in my hometown… it’s a little tragic because it was this great small town thing but now there isn’t an industry anymore,” explains Lynch, noticing that the story there mirrors the death of her own simple, romantic naivety.
In Lynch’s case, that naivety has been replaced with self-respect and understanding. “Do You Miss Me Yet” is one of several songs on the collection that calls out the pitfalls of online dating culture—a culture Lynch, who’s now happily partnered, spent many years wading through. She felt dehumanized as she swiped on Tinder, found herself “ghosted,” and spent hours overanalyzing her dating situations. Apples in the Fall documents every painstaking step in that journey — from the radiant highs of connecting with a potential lover to the sullen, dejected low of meeting your own loneliness.
For its part, “Do You Miss Me Yet,” lives where heartbreak and denial meet at the end of an amorous fling, pulling in her frustration and confusion in the Tinder age. Lynch, who cites Patty Griffin as a major influence, wrote the song in the airport in Austin, where she spent two months visiting friends a few years back, and where she began seeing a man knowing full well it wouldn’t last past her stay in the city. As a result, “Do you Miss Me Yet” is present in a difficult emotional place—its repeating minor melody leaps and falls like a once-optimistic lover, while her lyrics both enjoy and protect against her feelings for this person. It’s a strangely familiar suspense, and Lynch masterfully pulls the listener into it, as do many of the songs of Apples in The Fall.
“I am currently in a relationship. Can’t say it’s perfect but it’s really interesting how once you’re in one, none of that Tinder stuff even matters,” says Lynch. “You can spend hours and even years – ask me how I know, ha – spinning yourself in circles: ‘Okay so this guy, I texted him last night, but then he hadn’t texted me this morning, but should I text him or should I wait, am I going to seem like a jerk like I’m playing games, does he want me to play games?’ It turns your romantic little-girl self into this almost-machine of who is going to one-up the next person. Like, am I going to ghost them or are they going to ghost me? That’s not a real thing, that’s not how people calculate a relationship. The Tinder thing doesn’t make any sense.” With her tender voice, Anna Lynch offers the insight she’s gained from struggle, now stronger and wiser for the wear.
With hard work and a multi-faceted team, Ohio-bred collective Casual Crooks has been steadily paving their way to becoming the next big Midwest next rap crew. Their latest release comes from group member and rapper Zach slump, who recently dropped his first project of the year, Outskirts & Outcasts. Boasting emotionally-charged lyrics and a diverse collection of beats, the record welcomes another win for slump and the Crooks.
With two features from groupmate Sioux on energetic banger “Like a Jitt” and laidback party track “Trap Trap,” Outskirts & Outcasts finds slump delivering undeniably catchy hooks and aggressive bars. The Ohio-based MC recruited multiple producers – hailing from Ireland to California – to assemble the project’s spacey and off-kilter beats, which anchor the likes of “Mad Late,” “Dash Home” and more.
Slump has already released three visuals from the album, the most recent being “Mad Late.” All the visuals are handled by Lunar Thought, Casual Crooks’ videographer.
“I had found out about his music in high school and here we are, three years later, doing all my videos,” slump says of working with Lunar. “I swear, some of my videos are his best videos! We’re starting to mesh so good.”
He plans to drop a few more clips from the project, including “Like a Jitt” and “Pulse Dance.”
“I’m really hyped for the ‘Pulse Dance’ video because it’s got a vintage sound,” he says. “We’re gonna have a party and have it like ’70s-themed.”
After he’s done promoting Outskirts & Outcasts, Zach slump plans to drop off a bite-sized five-track EP over the summer, with visuals for every song. As for a new Casual Crooks record, slump says the group’s solo projects have taken priority.
“We’re all so into making our own music, that’s it’s really hard to get that shit finished,” he says. “We have like five songs finished that are technically taped, but we’re all perfectionists, so we’ll see how long that takes to come out.”
That doesn’t mean the group is slowing down, though. The Crooks have carved out a dedicated fanbase due to their work ethic and consistency, which slump hopes will be part of his legacy.
“It’s just work, but we love it,” he says. “We really wanna leave a legacy. I know how much music means to me – I just wanna mean that to somebody with my discography.”
“It’s crazy because we taught ourselves how to record everything,” he continues. “This is going from the ground up… to creating something that’s respectable. It’s been an interesting-ass journey.”
Indie Pop duo Jonray and Barbara Higginbotham may be living the ultimate millennial dream: they live in Austin, Texas and are making sweet, synth-infused music together. Their latest EP Honeymoon is mellifluous without being saccharine, tonally reminiscent of early Matt & Kim or Mates Of State. The album was partially funded by their honeymoon money (their wedding included a cake shaped like a synth, glow sticks, and a vinyl guestbook). With that first sacrifice as a wedded couple, the Higginbothams stepped firmly into the music scene.
“Heartbreak Hotel” starts the album off with a kind of 1980s poolside scene, two single people meeting for the first time, tangoing on the dance floor. From its opening beats, “Cotton Candy Disco Pie” brings us fully into Moonray’s multicolored, Memphis-design sound; you can almost picture graphic shapes swirling on the ceiling above crimped hair and bouffant skirts. “I can’t get myself together / I can’t let you go / In the night, in the night, in the night / We’re no strangers to love,” Jonray croons in unison with Barbara on “No Strangers To Love;” with its Spanish break, catchy lyrics, and playful back-and-forth, the single is a stand-out on the album. In a Top 40 EDM world, it’s pleasant to hear guitar solos breaks and the funky robot voice vocals on “When You’re Around.” The album rounds things out with “Come Away,” a trippy waltz for young lovers who are totally down to grow old together. It’s a love letter to couples who happen to be creative partners, written with self-awareness and humor, memorializing long nights spent talking and writing music – a perfectly splendid way to spend a honeymoon.
Read our interview with Jonray and Barb and listen to Audiofemme’s exclusive stream of Honeymoon below.
AF: Alright ya’ll. Tell us about your courtship… Jonray, you’ve said that it was a bit of a cat and mouse game at first?
JH: Yes, it was. When she gave me her number, it took around three weeks and five attempts to get her to hang out. When she finally said yes, we hung out for a whole week every day. Then she got scared and ran away a few times and I had to chase her around. It never lasted long – we couldn’t get enough of each other and still can’t.
AF: What was the first thing you noticed about the other person that was a turn on?
JH: I was at Baker Street after getting off work, watching a friend’s band play. I saw Barb up at the bar ordering, and I immediately stopped what I was doing and had to go up to her. She was just so beautiful, I didn’t care if I looked like a fool. I had to take a chance. Best choice I made.
BH: His friendliness and smile. He came up to me and said he had just moved to town. He asked if I could show him around. I love Austin and couldn’t resist not showing him around. He had a sweetness to him and somehow didn’t come off as a creepy guy at the bar.
AF: Barbara – your folks didn’t want you to major in theatre or the arts, so you graduated college with a degree in business. Since you’re now a professional musician, do you find that degree has come in handy in terms of managing the band?
BH: Oh, absolutely, 100%! I am so grateful they were against me majoring in Theatre Arts, [though] at the time I did hate it. My mom said to get a business degree and after I can do whatever I want. Although I did manage to sneak in a minor in Theatre Arts, taking piano and photography as electives. It wasn’t just the degree but also the experience I had while attending St. Edward’s University in Austin – I went from running organizations as VP, Chair and sitting on event committees. I believe all of that has prepared me for managing our band, branding, creating budgets and thinking outside the box.
AF: Are your parents cool with your life on the road?
JH: Yes, we are very lucky! Our parents are very encouraging of us performing and traveling.
AF: Jonray, your great grandmother was Marie Two Moon, a Native American from the Oglala Sioux Tribe. Moonray’s name came from a camping trip you both took to Inks Lake, but was also partially inspired by Marie. Did you know her very well?
JH: I had it wrong, it turns out my great great grandmother was Cherokee not Oglala Sioux like I thought. She died well before I was born and there were no official documents but notations were passed down and written in the family bible as documents. She was an extremely strong woman; her tribe settled in southern Tennessee in the 1700s where she eventually married a Mexican cowboy (surname Garcia). She did pass down traditions to my grandma including the art of preserving fruits and vegetables, making their own lye soap, farming, being completely self sufficient and wasting nothing. They even made preserves out of the leftover watermelon rind. She was born on a night where the moon had two rings. That’s how she got her name and Two Moons also inspired a song for us to be released in the future.
AF: If you could create a moodboard with images of the artists / animals / general vibes that inspired Moonray the band, what would it look like?
BH: We have one! I guess we have more of a vision board. Although we do create moodboards on pinterest related to songs. Some inspirations include Madonna, Abba, Eurythmics, Yaz, Tame Impala, Prince , Pink Floyd, 100% CHVRCHES, Some of the vibe words on our board include: Nostalgic Explorations, Time Traveler, Wild by Design, Feeling Young, Here Now, Become your most empowered self, come to life, Hidden Treasures, empowerment, sparking joy, Turn your passion into purpose.
BH: Yes, Thank you for saying that – sometimes we wonder if we are on track with it. We both do it! Sometimes, I create a Pinterest board with ideas on where we want to go with our brand depending on the release, other times I like to pull out watercolors and see what colors come to mind when listening to a song, other times I look for clippings. Jonray helps me to bounce ideas and finalize what we are going to post and he’ll sometimes take over the insta stories.
AF: Tell us about your new EP Honeymoon. What was the impetus of the album? A tune? A feeling? A story?
BH: Well, we did use our Honeymoon money to fund this EP. We still do plan on going on a Honeymoon but soon after we got engaged songs started pouring out and we wanted to make it an EP to encapsulate our love and journey as a couple.
JH: Each song depicts a phase in our relationship from the beginning of when we first met up to our marriage. Each song is dedicated to love in all its forms. The feeling we wanted to go for was one of a nostalgic journey filled with peaks, valleys and starry nights.
AF: What’s your favorite track on the EP and why?
JH: They’re all really special to me. I can’t pick a favorite!
BH: If only choosing one, “No Stranger to Love” is my favorite. Initially we hadn’t thought of adding Spanish, my native language. But we felt it needed a little shift and decided to switch part of the bridge to Spanish. It also encapsulates a special time during our relationship where things were a bit more hectic (facing alcoholism) yet love held it all together. But they’re all special in their own way.
AF: How do you prepare for a live performance? Do you have any pre-show rituals together or apart?
BH: We like to say a prayer before a performance, spend some quiet time together even if it’s five minutes.
JH: We like to do vocal warm-ups in the car. Barb likes to make essential oil roll-ons to lift our spirits as well as a cup of tea.
BH: Some yoga stretches when we arrive and shake our bodies all around.
AF: As artists, what do you hope to convey with your music? Is there a message you’re hoping to get out there into the universe?
We are so grateful to be able to create music and be able to share it with other beautiful souls. We hope our music sends a message of love and light into the universe. A beacon of light during dark times. And well, we hope to make people dance or even a head bop.
IN2ITIV3 is making waves as a musical embodiment of the growing punk/hip hop crossover in Cincinnati’s local music scene with their debut self-titled EP. Featuring bandmates that listen to everything from B2K to Patti Smith, IN2ITIV3 settles on lyrical rap infused with punk rock instrumentation – but they are not Rage Against The Machine.
“I’m not even a quarter as good of a guitar player as Tom Morello, so it’s not that,” jokes the band’s vocalist and guitarist Kelby Savage. Violinist Frankie Strings, drummer Ezra Plymesser, and bassist Max Vignola complete the quartet. They’ve coined their unique sound “punkadelic rock,” and even more than creating warm waves of party-ready tunes, IN2ITIV3 is the natural next step for a city with both thriving and experimental hip hop and punk scenes.
“Hip hop and punk music have always kind of been in the same scenes, like in New York, in a lot of the early scenes,” says Savage, who is also behind the local Punk Hip Hop Show series. “A lot of the punks go to the hip hop parties, a lot of the hip hop kids go to the punk parties. It’s starting to make that change here now.”
That change comes with curious and open-minded artists. Thankfully, hip hop as a genre, as Savage points out, has never been one to box itself in.
IN2ITIV3 photo by Bobby Tewksbury
“We have psychedelic influences, punk influences, and hip hop, but what makes it hip hop is that hip hop is a conglomerate of genres, so it’s hip hop by default,” he explains. “I love trap, but that’s the most overdone style. So, just take a little bit of this cadence and then put it with a punk rock beat and make something completely new, to where people are like – this is something different.”
A non-formulaic sound, however, isn’t easily earned. Savage explained over the year-long IN2ITIV3 recording process, the band used hour-long jam sessions to experiment with riffs and potential melodies. It’s also IN2ITIV3’s debut effort, so rather than collaborate with other artists, the project aims to cement the band’s own distinct sound.
“We had to tighten up our sound and just really get that solid unit working… If we do [work with features] I wanna do something unique,” he said, pointing to the likes of BADBADNOTGOOD and Free Nationals.
Moving forward, IN2ITIV3 plans to release a single called “The Moon” in April.
IN2ITIV3
Savage has been making music for over a decade, crediting Jimmy Hendrix as his guitarist icon and also boasting a dexterous rapping flow. During the course of our interview, he reminisced about opening up for Twenty One Pilots back in 2009 in front of 60 people at a local coffee shop.
“I saw them kind of become the band that they are today,” he said of the Columbus-bred duo.
With IN2ITIV3 now rounding their two-year mark, Savage is glad their debut project has finally come to fruition and that fans are starting to come around to their uniquely engaging style.
“Where you say loss, I say learning experience,” he said of his career philosophy. “They’re both L’s.”
Ahead of their upcoming Wild Child EP, four-piece sister band SHEL has launched a campaign in support of abandoned widows with the release of their new single and video, “Rainbow.” Mandolinist and guitarist Eva Holbrook traveled to Vrindavan, India for the video, where she learned about the women of Hope Springz.
“In many rural societies in India, people believe that the loss of a woman’s husband is a result of her bad karma,” Eva told Audiofemme. “Often, her own children abandon her.”
Hope Springz, a one-room apartment run by James and Asha Joy, works to provide a supportive community to outcast widows. SHEL seeks to shine a light on the women of Hope Springz with their new single and has made the rainbow-colored bracelets that the women design available to purchase on their website. All proceeds from the bracelet sales go directly to Hope Springz, allowing the center to remain a resource for dozens of widows.
Here, Eva chats with Audiofemme about filming “Rainbow,” what she learned from the women of Hope Springz and SHEL’s upcoming Wild Child EP, due out March 6.
Find the “Rainbow” video and Eve’s interview below.
AF: How did you first find out about Hope Springz?
EH: Liza’s girlfriend Chelsea Sobolik was part of the editing team on the documentary Beyond Karma. We ended up at the premiere and the story of the craft center really touched us. It’s a one-room apartment in Vrindavan, India, run by James and Asha Joy. They empower over 30 women with life development skills in that little room. It’s a true act of love.
AF: Why is this cause important to you?
EH: They need love and connection just like anyone else. They need protection, a sense of belonging and purpose. Through no fault of their own, they’ve been cast out of society and abandoned by their families. I would want someone to speak up for me if that was my situation. To tell my story and stand by me.
AF: What did you learn from meeting the women at Hope Springz?
EH: It made me realize that no matter what your situation is you can choose to love and extend a hand to the people around you, and that is a choice to let healing and purpose into your life.
AF: What was filming the “Rainbow” music video like?
EH: Exhilarating! Getting to celebrate Holi with the Maas was unforgettable. My favorite moments in the video were all unplanned. Kyle Rasmussen (the filmmaker for Beyond Karma) is incredible at capturing life on film. Doing this project with him really opened up my eyes to the beauty and healing that like-minded collaboration can bring to life.
AF: What can you tell us about your upcoming Wild Child EP?
EH: It’s really the result of taking responsibility for our values as a family band and putting our sisterhood before the demands of the industry. We’ve experienced a steady recovery from burn out, addiction, and depression, as we’ve created the space to be honest with ourselves and one another.
AF: What do you hope people will feel after listening to Wild Child?
EH: Liberation from fear, hope, a desire to listen to the inner wild that calls us to climb trees and touch stars, to unite in love amidst the storm, to follow the unknown road, and finally, to come home to the warm embrace of family.
On “Home,” the new remixed single from electro-pop duo White Night, there’s a chime-like synth pattern and haunting vocal loops that swell over a percussive drumbeat. It’s classic indie electronica—and in some ways, not a sound that most people would associate with Seattle. Yet, White Night’s singer and violist, Elizabeth Boardman grew up right here in the Emerald City—this is where her musical journey began, and upon deeper listening, you can hear it.
Boardman remembers her parents playing everything from Nirvana to opera around the house, and at just three, she says she “begged” to start piano lessons. “I remember, from a very early age, taking comfort in the distraction and creative wholeness felt in sitting at the piano and improvising your own little songs,” she says. “I started playing viola when I was eight and as soon as I was old enough to join the Seattle Youth Symphony orchestra program, I fell in love with the sweeping romance and drama of composers like Tchaikovsky and Sibelius.”
After completing Garfield High School, Boardman moved to London to study viola performance at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance and then later completed her Masters of Music at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. It was there Boardman met German-born Willi Leinen, a Classical Guitar student, and the two began dating and making music together.
“Both of us had composed a bit on our own and Willi had been in a couple bands, where as I had only dabbled a little in pop songwriting before we started working together,” said Boardman. “But we both had that creative itch that was a relief to scratch amidst the stiffness and stress of our classical studies.”
Initially, Boardman and Leinen were only able to collaborate virtually, sending musical ideas to each other over the internet, since Leinen had moved back to Berlin and Boardman was still in the San Francisco Bay Area.
“Our first songs were put together across the ocean,” said Boardman. “We had our first radio airtime on a German radio station, [and] we hadn’t even played the music in the same room together. We’d only done it long distance.”
Boardman then moved in with Leinen in Berlin, partly to be closer to a major epicenter for classical and electronic music, and to take advantage of the city’s affordable living and vibrant culture. Since, the two have continued to hone the alternative synth-pop of White Night, drawing both on the mood of the Pacific Northwest and the electronic scene in Berlin.
For instance, on the title track from their 2018 debut album, Golden Heart, there’s the sweeping drama of Pacific Northwest scenery adorned with cinematic textures, strings, and a music video featuring many shots from the San Juan Islands. Musically, the track could sit alongside the music of Pacific Northwest indie-folk artists like Damien Jurado, Fleet Foxes, and Noah Gundersen. Meanwhile, another single on Golden Heart, “Money,” has more distinct Euro-pop flavor. A techno dance beat underpins as Boardman speak-sings, “Fancy cars/fancy clothes/what is real/what is fake/Money makes it yours to take.”
This newly-released version of “Home” is the best of both worlds. Originally appearing on Golden Heart, remix duties were handled by their friend, German drummer Hanns Eisler, who goes by INGO. The intoxicating momentum and precision in production ties the track to the vibrant electronic music scene in Berlin. At the same time, there’s also a good dose of the raw authenticity and quirkiness of the Seattle indie folk sound; “Home” brings to mind Northwest-bred Benjamin Gibbard’s work in Postal Service, as well as ODESZA and Feist.
Lyrically, the song explores what “Home” is and there’s a moody tension that swells throughout the track—almost as if the singer is in two places at once. “The song is about the concept of one’s ‘home’ being a collection of memories and nostalgic feelings which are untainted by time. Relationships, individuals, environments and circumstances are constantly evolving, appearing, and disappearing as one goes through life. Home is what we hold still in our minds and in our hearts,” explains Boardman.
The release of this single marks a new period for White Night, who have toured much with Golden Heart throughout Germany and the West Coast of the U.S. since last year. Right now, they are looking forward to writing a new EP, continuing to teach classical music from their home studio in Berlin, and eventually, to getting back out on the road.
“We are very excited to keep songwriting and hone our genre and style before we plan any bigger tours,” said Boardman. “For now, we are back to the songwriting grind-stone!”
Follow White Night on Facebook for ongoing updates.
Singer-songwriter Leila Sunier just moved to Los Angeles from Colorado in September. The 23 year-old chose L.A. out of a relative familiarity—she once spent a summer interning at a music library in the area—but the change of scenery is also symbolic of her ambitions in music.
“You kind of transplant yourself [here] because you know there are so many creatives focused on their craft and they’re very serious about it and you know that you can hopefully meet people that are like-minded and collaborate with them,” said Sunier.
“Ghost” is the second single released in promotion of her forthcoming EP, If Only to Bleed Out The White Noise. The EP, which drops February 14th, has all the trimmings of indie folk—but with a little something extra. There’s the experimental elements of noise and metal, and the authentic heartache of country-blues and vintage jazz—and she comes by each influence honestly.
“I didn’t listen to contemporary music really until I was 13 [or] 14,” said Sunier. “I grew up in a household where we played a lot of old country. Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline, that was every Saturday. We played a lot of swing jazzers. Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin. And then on road-trips, my dad grew up as like a metalhead, so of course there’s like Aerosmith, those bands from the ’80s, and whatnot. [I had] a very diverse and eclectic background.”
Her debut EP is also driven by the loss and struggle inherent in coming of age, says Sunier. Within the last couple years, Sunier completed her music studies at University of Miami and ended a formative romantic relationship, and the latter is delicately chronicled on If Only to Bleed Out The White Noise. “Ghost” is particularly nostalgic for the initial stages of her romance, and of a life where possibilities were endless and spirits were as high as a kite on a windy day.
The simple video, premiering exclusively on Audiofemme, bolsters the mood of “Ghost.” Crafted by L.A.-based filmmakers Jessie Klearman and Vivian He, and co-starring actor Gibran Zahedi-Mitchell, the video follows two lovers as they frolic smilingly on a beach, soaked in the faded colors of an overcast Santa Monica day, to the tune of Sunier’s misty, almost-familiar melody.
“This song I wrote at the beginning stages of a relationship and I really took this idea of like, ghosting – when somebody just suddenly leaves, there’s no explanation, they’re just kind of gone,” she said. “But then there’s this other side of it. To this day I still think it’s really incredible – how do you get to know somebody? Their story, and their life kind of becomes invisibly intertwined with yours; it’s something that isn’t immediately perceived, you’re just starting to like, join energies or whatnot. That was really the whole crux, the concept. I was watching this relationship start and it was really exciting and new. And then it’s kind of funny, the phrase ‘ghost’ kind of popped up in other songs on the project because in the creation of this project I watched this relationship begin and then end.”
And “Ghost,” is the most optimistic track about this romance. In general, the painful end of this relationship—and the beginning of a new stage of life—gives Sunier’s debut EP a haunting, aching sort of quality. She contends with emptiness and confusion most of the way—the ghosts of what she’s lost in the process of loving and leaving this person. The hollowness is in the background on the first track, “Cut A Smile,” but only continues to grow in urgency as the EP goes on. By the final track, “Outro,” it’s in the foreground, and Sunier addresses the pain directly to herself and her listeners. “I’ve been living with ghosts of myself,” she sings.
“The project was almost called ‘Ghosts of Myself,'” she said. “But then it also really focused on this idea of noise. If Only to Bleed Out the White Noise is a lyric from the second to last song called ‘Young Thing,’ which is me reckoning with growing up and what that means. I think a lot of people my age generally, it’s like ‘Wow, I have to grow up.’”
Through the process of listening to the EP, the listener gets to grow up with Sunier. A certain hollowness is filled. In that way, If Only To Bleed Out The White Noise has the storytelling power of a concept album. After all, Sunier crafted it over a two-year period of her early twenties, a time universally known for its growing pains. With each song, Sunier’s understanding of herself and of her creative voice expand into an ever-widening horizon, and the magic here is how artfully she tells her own story and draws in her listener. By the end of this stunning journey, she’s found her voice—a lush, honest, and individual one at that.
Follow Leila Sunier on Facebook for ongoing updates.
Filled with vulnerability and raw emotion, Liz Longley reclaims her personal boundaries in her new song, “3 Crow.”
Through a song that blends Christina Perri-esque vocals with a calming effect akin to Lana Del Rey, Longley paints a melodic portrait capturing the pain she felt breaking ties with a toxic friend. In a phone interview with Audiofemme, Longley shares that she often discusses the stories behind her songs on stage during live shows, but this is one she’s kept close to the vest.
Instead, the song speaks for itself, touching vividly on Longley’s experiences: having to bring a friend home after an altercation at the titular bar she can no longer go to; the time she stood watching with “tears in my eyes” when the friend got pulled over; lines becoming blurred both literally and metaphorically. These memories feel especially poignant because they’re real – the song was written about someone who lived near East Nashville neighborhood and took advantage of her friendship – and over the course of a few tumultuous months, Longley began to realize that actions she initially thought were in her best interest were actually done for the other person’s gain.
“Writing the song was my way of processing being around someone who didn’t respect my boundaries emotionally or physically, and trying to process that and learn how to set my own boundaries so that I wouldn’t set myself up for them to be challenged or disrespected again,” she explains. “I was thinking about it kind of like being under the influence, but of a person. You think ‘I’m a strong, independent woman, I’m not going to get under the influence of a person or fall victim to another person.’ It was eye-opening to realize that it can be a very gradual decline in a situation and it can grow into a situation where you don’t feel safe and it can happen to anyone.”
Longley says she wrote “3 Crow” in a near “meditative” state where the words began pouring out one night after being near this person’s house, leading to an awakening about the uncomfortable situation she was in. “Just the sight of this person’s house triggered me writing this song,” she observes. Vulnerability is an integral aspect of “3 Crow,” particularly as she sings “Slept on your couch/I insisted/You grabbed my mouth/And tried to kiss it/I gave you aspirin/And I swallowed a few hard pills myself.” It’s in these words that Longley expresses a sense of defeat that eventually turns into triumph.
Following “that realization, that hard pill that I swallowed of taking responsibility for letting myself get into this situation and letting it get to this point and almost feeling the defeat and the shame in that,” Longley says she experienced “that turnaround point where I’m saying ‘I’m not going to stand for it anymore, this is not going to happen again.’”
Longley stands firm in her proclamation not to let the vicious cycle continue by repeating “any more” at song’s end. This repetition is symbolic of how she’s standing firm in her strength and refusing to allow this unwanted behavior to be a part of her life. “Sometimes the songs come before the realization of what’s going on… putting this down on paper and then stepping away, I started to realize a lot of the symbolism in it and what I had to learn from writing it,” she affirms.
The Nashville-based singer has since cut off contact with this person and has used therapy and other healing methods as a way to move forward from the experience she expects will “unravel” as time goes on. “3 Crow” is featured on her upcoming album, Funeral For My Past, and marks the first time in four years that she’s released new original music. She hopes that when listeners hear this song, they’ll feel a sense of safety and acceptance. “Each and every one of us deserves to be loved and respected and if you’re not, I just want people to know that they’re worth more and that there is a way out and there’s hope for them,” Longley shares. “I just hope that it resonates with them on the same level that it did for me when I was writing this song.”
“3 Crow” is available now. Funeral For My Pastis expected to be released this year. Follow Liz Longley on Facebook for ongoing updates.
On the title track of her new album, What’s This Death, Amanda Winterhalter sings, “You don’t talk to death, you listen close.” It’s the perfect set-up for the powerhouse 7-track record, which leans in to the stories we tell about death and loss, and reflects them back in a fresh light.
This bittersweet nature of What’s This Death, released on October 4th, was born organically out of Winterhalter’s penchant for gothic Americana and the losses she endured in the last three years. What’s This Death, which shimmers with inflections of Southern rock, rockabilly, and tender indie folk, explores death in its myriad of forms. From the loved on who’s passed on and the once-close friendship that’s grown distant, to more symbolic deaths—like the parts of ourselves that transform along the way.
“I’ve always been interested in death since it’s such a universal part of living, and there’s so much story around it/through it,” Winterhalter said about the record. “My only grandparent I ever knew died a few years ago and I experienced the death of a few significant relationships over the last three years, so all of that definitely influenced these songs as well.”
In conversation with Audiofemme, Winterhalter dove deep into her early life in a rural town on the outskirts of Seattle, her muses, and the raw space of writing and recording What’s This Death.
AF: Where are you from? What got you into music?
AW: I grew up on a small farm about an hour north of Seattle, and I’ve lived in Seattle for about eight years. I had a lot of opportunities to participate in music and performance as a kid – my parents made me and my brothers take piano lessons (I loved playing piano, but I hated practicing!), I sang in church and school choirs, and began to perform as a singer/songwriter and play in bands when I was a teenager.
AF: Is music your full-time gig?
AW: Hahaha – no. That’s a hard full-time gig to muster, and I feel really lucky to work at a fantastic arts & culture nonprofit in Seattle that gives me enough flexibility and energy to also play a lot of music. It does sometimes feel like having two full-time jobs, though.
AF: Your sound has been described as “Gothic Americana.” What does that mean to you? What are some major muses for your music?
AW: Yeah, a lot of people see or hear the word gothic and immediately think goth, or even metal, but we land at a different spot on the genre wheel. Gothic Americana shows up in our sound through a whole lot of grit with a good balance of tenderness on a foundation of some traditional American musical approaches. The pedal steel, soaring choruses, and upright bass lend the backbone of the Americana, and the overdrive and dig and lyrical content provide the gothic feeling and visuals. Some big influencers of our sound as we’ve developed as a band have been Gillian Welch, Townes Van Zandt, Patty Griffin, Cinematic Orchestra, Brittany Howard and Alabama Shakes, Sturgill Simpson.
AF: What’s the story behind What’s This Death? What inspired the album and how long did you spend making it?
AW: About half the songs were written on trips I took around the Pacific Northwest – a cabin at Lake Quinault, a tent on the coast of Haida Gwaii. Some of the tracks are inspired by works of literature that I wrote to perform for Bushwick Book Club Seattle shows. When we were ready to head into the recording studio, these seven songs were the ones from the basket that worked the best as a whole, all coming together around a death theme expressing different manifestations of that through lyrics on loss, distance, disconnection, and grief. We started recording with Johnny Sangster at Crackle & Pop! Studio in January 2019 and in between his tour legs performing with Neko Case, we wrapped up the project by March. Rachel Field at Resonant Mastering put on the final touches, and we spent the summer getting ready for the release in early October.
AF: How does What’s This Death build on your previous release, Olea?
AW: Olea presented a lot of different musical influences, from jazz and folk to rock and Americana. I think What’s This Death shows our development as a band and zeroes in on the balance of grit and tenderness with a bit more cohesion across the tunes. It feels like part of a crescendo, and I think the next album will be a really exciting next stop on that swell.
AF: Is the new album in conversation with the past, present or future? In other words, where was your mind as you were writing these songs?
AW: There’s a lot of conversation with all three on this album. Some of the songs deal with my disconnection from Christianity and the church and that culture and community. Some of the songs are dialogues or monologues of self-talk that both reflect on the past and process the present, as well as try to imagine the future. In all, I think there’s a constant voice of reassurance that even though the future is uncertain, you can anchor yourself and take the agency you need to move forward.
AF: What were the biggest challenges making this new record?
AW: Oh, recording is always a pretty raw and vulnerable space. It’s a really fun time, and provides a lot of inspiration and excitement to hear things coming together as a whole. But when you hear your voice or your instrument isolated while mixing or recording, you hear all your mistakes and flaws. Which is necessary for growth, of course! But there’s always a little soreness and self-consciousness as you’re building your muscles to make your output match your vision.
AF: Tell me about the title track—I hear old time influence in it especially. Did you grow up learning bluegrass, old time, or traditional folk? What’s your relationship to those traditions?
AW: No, I didn’t grow up with that kind of music at all, actually! But I was very drawn to it. Mostly I discovered roots and traditional music through movies with, like, T Bone Burnett or Quincy Jones soundtracks (Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?, The Color Purple). I discovered old jazz and blues at a young age on my own, and that was kind of the first flag of individuality in my music taste since the music in my environment was mostly contemporary Christian and country and some oldies sprinkled in. It wasn’t until my late teens and 20s that I got deeper into the canon of 20th-century music and the incredible local music scene in Seattle. Roots music is so important and resonant to me because of core storytelling – I’m fascinated by the time traveling experience that music provides, and the ability to see into cultures and a broad human experience.
AF: What’s your favorite track on the album? Tell me about the process of writing it.
AW: I love them all! I think my fallback favorite is usually “What’s This, Death?” because it really encompasses in every way – lyrically, musically, conceptually – exactly who I am as an artist and what we do as a band. Every instrument and piece of the band is featured in that song in some way, and I love that!
AF: How does a song start for you? A melody, an idea, a combination of both?
AW: For me, the seed of a song is almost always a melodic phrase. Usually an actual phrase of words pops into my head and my brain puts some notes underneath the words. I’ll build the rest of the song out on my guitar around that melodic phrase, and once I have the musical framework, I’ll finish the lyrics. Sometimes all of the lyrics come along as I build out the song musically. I kind of need both – if I don’t have both a basis of melody and words/concept, it’s tough to move forward and create a whole song.
AF: What do the next few months look like for you? Are you on tour?
AW: We are currently wrapping up little northwest tour! We’ve been making our way through Oregon and will end in Clarkston, WA on 11/22 and Moscow, Idaho on 11/23. Then we’ll do one last show of the year at Tim’s Tavern on December 13 with Claire Tucker and Frames In Motion. And then we’re super excited to start off 2020 playing at Timbrrr! Winter Music Festival in Leavenworth on January 25!
AF: What are you goals with music? What have been the biggest obstacles to those goals? The biggest help?
AW: My main goal is just to keep making music! My vision for sound and songs is always expanding, and I want to keep growing as an artist to always get closer to realizing that vision. I love challenging myself to create music that makes me feel something, and when it resonates deeply with an audience, too, that’s just the best experience in the world. I’d love to keep creating and keep sharing our music with more and more people. The music industry isn’t in a state that provides much support for artists. And while I think the democratization of music is good and necessary, it also creates a lot of over-saturation. But I believe there’s space and an audience for everyone who wants to work at their craft and share it with the world. And finding communities that share that belief is the biggest help. I don’t believe anyone gets anywhere without the support of a community of collaborators, and I’ve been really lucky to find mine. The people I make music with are the best people I know, and we all have so much appreciation for one another.
Follow Amanda Winterhalter on Facebook for ongoing updates.
Calling from a six-week writer’s residency in the small mountain town of Banff in Alberta, Canada, Lindsay Kay is feeling a creative high these days – while also enjoying a much-needed recharge. “This place is really fantastic. They literally cook all your food for you. You’re sort of living in a hotel, almost, so you don’t have to make your bed, even,” she says with a laugh. “It’s so wildly privileged… but it’s completely immersive. All you have to do is music. They fund you to come.”
Banff lies roughly 90 minutes away from Kay’s hometown of Calgary, and so, it feels a bit like a homecoming. She previously attended this same residency four years ago as she prepared her debut album, 2018’s For the Feminine, By the Feminine, an especially moving and timely collection centered on womanhood and the meaning of femininity. Every collaborator on the album, from producers to studio musicians, was a woman.
Now, she offers a glimpse into the great depths of her songcraft with her new EP, showcasing the same song in three different versions. “For D”/“I Had This Friend” is a study in songwriting, and each iteration is a puzzle piece to a much bigger story. “I was actually, funnily enough, at another artist residency when I first wrote this. I was in this really small town called Noyers-sur-Serein in Burgundy, a couple hours south of Paris. It was very different than here. It’s very small,” she recalls. “You’re sort of living in this tiny, medieval house. It was just me and one other woman in residence together – my dear friend [writer] Kelsey Donk. We were there for a couple of months working and writing. That was real seclusion.”
“I Had This Friend” moves from the rough cut of the original 2016 iPhone demo to something more visceral and tangible in the second demo to a finished product that marries creamy studio work with a still jagged presentation. While the final version remains unmastered, it still allows the listener to feel an emotional richness that drips from Kay’s voice and the steady heartbeat of guitar and piano.
“He worried all of the time / He’d never get any sleep / There was no time to be wasted / He had to earn his keep,” she sings. Her words paint faint, foggy images of a person who quickly, sorrowfully faded from her life. “In life, some people are there for a long time, and some people are there for a short time. This person was in my life for a shorter amount of time,” she offers with a palpable heaviness. “When I wrote this song in France, we were still dear friends and speaking pretty regularly. He was present in my life, and I felt inspired to write a song about him.”
“I cared about him very much, but I worried about him for all the reasons that I list in the song. He overworked himself. He sets too high expectations for himself. I felt I wanted to put that into words. Coming back to this song later, things had changed slightly. I was figuring out how to deal with that.”
Listen to AudioFemme’s exclusive stream of “For D” / “I Had a Friend” and get even more insight into Kay’s work below.
AF: What drew you back to the song three years later? How had things changed?
LK: I came back to the song this year. I was in Calgary visiting my family. I was thinking, “Okay, it’s time to start the process of writing new music and figuring out the next type of album that I want to make.” Sometimes, it’s a little bit easier to revisit old work as opposed to diving right into making something new. Writing songs is the hardest thing ever. [laughs] It’s so terrifying to have the blank page looking back at you. So, sometimes, it’s a softer landing to go back into the journals and the voice memos and see if there’s anything that can be mined from the past.
That’s what I was doing. I was going back and listening to a bunch of the music I wrote when I was in France and stuff I wrote that coincided with my last album that didn’t make the cut then. This song was one of those songs. It didn’t really fit in with the overarching theme of my last album, but I still felt the song had something special and sweet and nostalgic to it. I like the song.
In listening back to it, it’s interesting, of course. The first demo was in the present tense, and I thought to myself, “Do I have any sort of responsibility to keep the song the same to respect the way it was written the first time?” But it’s my song, so I can do whatever I want. There are no rules. So, I thought, “Well, we grew apart in a natural, normal way. Nothing dramatic or terrible about it, but how do I make this song true for right now?” The first thing I chose to do was put it into past tense, which took some finagling. It was interesting, because I had never done that before. I had never taken a present song and put it into the past. It was a cool thing to work on. I really enjoyed that process.
AF: How did the song feel to you then, emotionally?
LK: Honestly, I think it felt quite similar. I actually had a lot of the same feelings I had when I wrote it. It was just love and care for this person – despite the fact that I no longer speak to him very often. When I listened to the song, I was taken back to that feeling of care and concern. It made me think of our friendship fondly. I saw things slightly different, I suppose, which you can see in the lyric changes. It’s a little bit more critical view, perhaps, in the last version of the song. I had time to reflect on our relationship and our friendship. It still rang true in some way, at least.
AF: A month later, you recorded the final version. What did you want the song to evoke, musically?
LK: I wanted to record something very quickly, very messy, not too polished. I wasn’t initially planning on making an EP in this way. When I went into the studio, I just had access to studio time in Calgary. This was the song that was at the forefront of my practice and mind at the moment. I wanted to record it in the way I felt it was finished. After I had recorded the song, I was going back and listening to the different versions. Then, I had the idea, “Well, what if I put this all together with the iPhone demos and show the evolution?”
It all came together after. The song isn’t even mastered. It’s very barebones. It’s very live. I recorded everything completely live on the floor. I did the voice and guitar master take all together. It’s one good take. I quickly layered another guitar part on top and a bit of piano. That’s the whole song. It was literally a few hours in the studio. Sometimes, as artists, we get quite precious about our work, which I think is important – to want to refine and polish. It’s sometimes fun to let people into the more creative process as opposed to being really attached to perfection.
AF: Do you ever have trouble stopping yourself from tweaking and letting go of a song?
LK: Of course. For this project, it was almost an exercise in not doing that. I really actively did not do that with this. I was super lax on my technical expectations. It was almost an exercise in letting go of songs really, really fast. That was really helpful. With my last album, I had a lot of moments of wanting to continue to add more and tweak. It never really felt finished. But eventually, you have to learn to let go or have someone you trust by your side telling you when maybe it is time to let go. I had the same experience with music videos and editing them. There’s always more. There’s always something that can be added or removed or tweaked. It never is perfect. There’s an art in knowing when to let it be.
A page from Lindsay Kay’s lyric journal offers insight into how the song evolved over time.
AF: What lyric of this song sticks with you most?
LK: I’ve been trying to actively think about how to incorporate writing about intimacy and sexuality in my work that’s not draped in symbolism all the time. I was skirting around this lyric, but then, I put it in blatantly. The lyric is: “He told me that he had been having hot sex with a woman that he despised.” That lyric is just pretty clear. It’s not necessarily uber poetic or nuanced. It’s clear and to the point. That’s something I’m trying to explore more in my writing.
That lyric felt powerful to me when I wrote it, and I felt excited about having that in there. I also like the lyric: “When I’m away and missing LA, I think about the day we shared some fries, and I watched him cry.” Sometimes, it’s nice to put in weird little details. Sharing a plate of fries with someone is such a normal, friendly thing we all do.
AF: Do you have an idea where you’re headed next in your music?
LK: I’m at the very beginning of the process. I was just in Spain for the last, almost, three months. I’m going back and forth between Los Angeles and Barcelona at the moment. I was writing there quite a lot. I wrote maybe four or five new songs. Now, I’m here continuing to polish those and write more music. A full-on shape has not taken form yet. There’s no clear path as to when an album will come or what it will look like. Right now, I’m firmly in the creative writing process. I’m trying to protect that space as long as it feels good and can keep it.
Part suburban Oklahoma cowgirl, part Brooklynite, recent LA transplant McKenzie Ellis (who has released two EPs as Mothica) uses her cunning wit to balance clever wordplay while exploring intimate and often dark autobiographical experiences. Mothica is an alter ego that isn’t afraid of honesty, and echoes strength in vulnerability. You can find her distinct, raspy, yet honey-soaked voice speaking directly to her camera lens, breaking the third wall on social media platforms while simultaneously spreading her words of wisdom and personal truth. These truths come in an array of textures and topics, ranging from her passion for Matcha, to her personal journey as a survivor of childhood trauma, substance abuse, and self harm. Her unexpected pop writing style incorporates nocturnal melodies and siren vocals with a metallic silver lining.
Meanwhile, the videos she’s released to promote her forthcoming album Blue Hour are ultra-personal, drawing viewers deep into her world and its history. “Love Me Better,” released in August, was shot on her final days in New York City, just before she moved to the West Coast. And she recently returned to Oklahoma to shoot a mini documentary/album trailer that revisits her now-abandoned childhood home, her high school, and an old chapel scheduled for demolition. Included are home videos and painful confessions, but her message, ultimately, is that there’s hope – Mothica found it in seeking help outside herself, making sweeping changes in her surroundings, and most of all creating her beautiful new record.
Audiofemme is pleased to host Mothica at our relaunch party on Sunday, 11/17 at 7:30pm at the Rosewood Theater in Manhattan, along with Zola Jesus, Jess Williamson, Purple Pilgrims, tarot readings, and a tattoo booth – if you’re in NYC we hope to see you there! Read on below to hear more about Mothica’s metamorphosis.
AF: How did the mystical Mothica come to exist?
ME: The name Mothica came long before the music. I felt this kinship to moths and my friend made a joke about me being “Mothica” rather than “Gothica.” The metaphor of a moth attracted to the light has been super prevalent in my life. The “light” I’ve been attracted to has changed over time, whether it was chaos, unhealthy relationships, drugs and alcohol, dark thoughts, or recently, self-care and recovery.
AF: Can you talk about growing up in Oklahoma during the age of internet?
ME: Oh, yes! When I was in middle school I had one of those little block Nokia phones with no graphics. My first experience with self-expression and technology was setting my ringtone, and picking from the default backgrounds. I remember the drama of who made it into your top 8 on MySpace, or what your away message displayed on your AIM account. Growing up in suburban Oklahoma, I dreamed of living in a big city. I was always friend requesting musicians and artists from all over the world. Lookbook, Tumblr, and Pinterest were huge tools in visualizing my escape plan.
AF: If you could choose any decade to grow up in – which would it be?
ME: I used to say the ’80s because of the fashion, and because drugs weren’t regulated but that’s probably my addict brain speaking. I still think the ’80s would be an incredible time to make music with all the new synthesizers that were coming out. I’ve always been into John Cusack movies of course.
AF: If there was a glitch in the Matrix and you morphed into another version of yourself – who would this person be?
ME: I think about this a lot, and the concept of reality. Every little decision you make can alter the course of your day and create a domino effect in the rest of your life. I wouldn’t be pursuing music if I hadn’t met certain people. I wouldn’t have met those people if I wasn’t in the right place at the right time. I think in an alternate reality, I’d be pursuing something that combined neuroscience and visual art. My ultimate goal is to live in a unique home outside of a major city. I’d like to be surrounded by nature, with an art studio, small recording studio, lots of books, a grand piano and a dog. To be able to create freely and inspire others. Hopefully that happens in this lifetime and doesn’t involve a glitch in the Matrix.
AF: How do you feel about the shift in the music industry shedding light on Mental Health Awareness?
ME: It’s very necessary, but it has a long way to go. I was just talking on Instagram stories about the conflicted feelings I have towards artists that market themselves as “sad” and make money by selling merchandise that romanticizes mental illness. Depression is a serious disease, not something cool and sellable. My depression has lead to hospitalization, self harm, and suicide attempts. I don’t believe in rocking a shirt that glorifies depression unless the profits are going to a a charitable cause.
AF: Can you discuss the inspiration and backstory of your new song “Love Me Better”?
ME: Some songs come easily, and some take a drawn out, winding journey like this one did. I had the lyric “you love me better than myself” in my notes for years after a writing session in Los Angeles. I occasionally revisited it, trying to work out the concept but I had no idea who the ‘you’ was referring to. I got into a relationship with someone who truly embodied that lyric. I met him when I first started trying to get sober. I was seeking safety in the co-dependency of the relationship, to avoid facing myself. He moved in with me within the first week of the relationship. You can say we jumped in head first. I rarely left the house, because I knew that I would end up in a bar if I did. I had this unrealistic expectation that being with him would somehow ‘save’ me from myself. After months of failing to become sober, I had a drug induced mental breakdown. I self-harmed with the intention of being admitted to a rehab facility. During this time, he stayed with me until I was released from the hospital. The cover artwork is a film photo he took of me on our last trip together. We ended things because I had to focus fully on my recovery. This song was the perfect fit to release before my album, which is about that later journey.
AF: What was the inspiration behind your new single, “NOW”?
ME: “NOW” was the first song I wrote for Blue Hour, and it came out as a freestyle in the vocal booth. I had recently gotten a tattoo that says NOW on my inner arm which helped inspire the title. The song is a warning: “If you expect me to be happy all the time, you better leave now.”
AF: What has the response been like for the powerful mini-doc/album trailer for Blue Hour?
ME: The response to the mini doc has been beautiful. I received a lot of really thoughtful messages, and some heartbreaking stories from people who experienced something similar. It was such an important story for me to tell, and while the quantity of people that have seen it is small, I feel like it had a strong impact.
AF: What are your goals and hopes for the new record? What do you think will surprise listeners most, after you’ve been so open and honest about your personal struggles leading up to its release?
ME: I think these songs are the most true to me, sonically and lyrically. I tried to be a bit more accessible in the past, opting for more upbeat or EDM sounding production to compensate for lyrics that felt TOO dark. In Blue Hour, you’ll hear explicit lyrics, electric guitar, and analog synths – I’ve embraced my darkness.
Singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Lauren Rocket is the embodiment of the word “badass,” and that’s no clearer than in her latest single, “Rattlesnake.” In the video for the fierce, beat-driven rebel anthem, we see Rocket dancing around the house, ravenously eating sweets, and posing in an “Anarchy” shirt while singing lyrics like, “I like the pain because it keeps me awake / can’t sleep, don’t put on the brakes.”
Rocket signed her first record deal at age 18, toured with artists including The Child and The Pink Spiders as part of her pop-punk band Rocket, and has most recently toured alongside Rilo Kiley’s Blake Sennett and The Honorary Title’s Jarrod Gorbel in Night Terrors of 1927. As a solo artist, her music has included catchy, danceable, elecropop hits (like “Sharks” and her cover of Echo and the Bunnymen’s “The Killing Moon“) that project a sassy, self-assured persona.
We asked her about the evolution of her music, what it was like to be in an all-female punk band, and what “Rattlesnake” means to her.
AF: What is the concept behind the song and video for “Rattlesnake”? What inspired you to come up with it?
LR: With “Rattlesnake,” I wanted to write a song about living life dangerously, doing what you want daily, and enjoying your limited time here while imposing a strong belief in trying everything at least once. When I got in the studio with my co-writers Jason Bell and Jordan Miller (aka HEAVY), they totally got the vibe and concept, and we kind of effortlessly weaved our way through the song. I wanted “Rattlesnake” to not only convey that lyrically, but I wanted it to feel alive (“rattlesnakey”) in a sense.
Visually, my co-creater Zoey Taylor and I envisioned a video that really was pure, moving picture “mood,” capturing the essence of momentary youthful freedom and a strong amount of weirdness. We are both giant fans of Harmony Korine and love how his movie, Gummo, is a series of unforgettable vignettes that all work together to create a solid, visceral movie that you can feel in your bones and heart. He was our main inspiration, and our goal was to make it feel like the viewer is experiencing another life in little glimpses — maybe escaping into that world for a couple minutes, maybe questioning it, but maybe not.
AF: What does the rattlesnake symbolize to you?
LR: Snakes in general represent the obvious: temptation, danger, seduction, toxicity, etc. They can kill in one moment, which makes them super powerful beings. Rattlesnakes, to me, are symbolic visual representations of what I imply in the song with the line, “I wanna live like I’m dying today.”
AF: I know you’ve collaborated and toured with a number of accomplished artists and songwriters. Have they influenced your music? Who would you say your biggest influences are?
LR: I have learned so much from so many people on this journey, and I am grateful for every writing and touring experience I’ve ever had, as they’ve just made me a better version of myself as well as a better writer. I strongly believe that it’s pretty hard to grow without collaboration, because there is so much to learn from others. It’s kind of essential to creation. I have a ton of influences, so it’s hard to only name a few and not bore everyone, so I would say Dolly Parton for her grace, innate talent, and authenticity; Freddy Mercury, no question; and Deborah Harry because there’s just no one cooler. And how could I not mention David Bowie?
AF: Would you say there’s an overall theme to your music? I know you once said you write about everything butlove — why is that?
LR: I guess I could write love songs all day long. It’s a go-to for me, and I could cry and write them for hours, so the challenge for me is to write about other subjects, like aliens and snakes and wizards. I only laugh and never really cry unless I’m laughing too much, so it’s a win-win situation.
AF: Pop-punk seems to be very male-dominated — what was it like having a female band in this genre? Were there particular challenges or stereotypes you faced?
LR: Just being marginalized as a “girl band” was limiting in itself. There’s a different psychology behind how people view all female bands, and it’s a whole thing. There was this weird underlying feeling of having to prove ourselves as a musicians and performers. It was yucky, but there was another side that was beautiful and amazing. We just did our thing and had so much fun playing shows all over the country. I feel so lucky to have had those experiences in life. We simply loved playing music and touring around in a beat-up van, eating chips. I love playing with women. There’s something magical that happens when we work together.
AF: In what ways would you say your music has changed since Rocket?
LR: I’ve grown a lot, experienced a lot, and learned a lot since Rocket. That band had a bevy of puppeteers expressing their opinions on what we should sound like and act like. We were super young and green. I’ve learned a lot about myself and dug real deep in these past few years while practicing a lot of internal and spiritual work, which my soul really craved. In turn, this project is definitely the most authentic representation of who I am creatively at this moment in my life and expresses my inner thoughts, sometimes obviously and sometimes abstractly. These are the songs that I hear in my head when I’m just walking around, living my life every day. I know exactly how I want them to sound. It’s been a really inspiring and exciting journey so far, and I’m excited for it to keep unfolding.
Follow Lauren Rocket on Facebook for ongoing updates.
For Atlanta sextet Shepherds, “genre” is a worn name tag hanging on by its last thread as theme and experimentation take prominence, rapidly setting the art-rock group apart in an ever-changing Atlanta market.
Since the release of their 2011 debut EP, Holy Stain, the band has been in a state of constant flux as they navigated rapid changes, from their lineup to the state of the world around them. Featuring the creative minds of Vinny Restivo,
Ryan York, May Tabol, Adrian Benedykt Świtoń, Peter Cauthorn, and Jonathan Merenivitch, the group released their expansive new LP, Insignificant Whip, on October 18th, following a music video for their lead single, “Your Imagined Past.”
Interest spurred by the band’s pointed lyricism and social commentary, I got the opportunity to sit down with lyricist and vocalist Jonathan Merenivitch to find out what drives the experimentalist evolution that keeps the group moving forward.
AF: You guys have been together for almost nine years now, released two full-length albums, and evolved sonically from a minimalist soundscape to lush, textured art-rock. What has it been like to see such organic evolution and growth as a band? How have you evolved individually as songwriters, musicians, and performers as the years have passed?
JM: It’s been very natural. When we started we had an idea that we would sound like Smokey Robinson meets Jesus and Mary Chain. A simple idea, kinda gimmicky, but a clear goal in terms of sound. As we’ve had a variety of musical experiences both as sidemen and collaborators/leaders in other projects, we’ve learned the necessity of that kind of genre elevator pitch but also the importance of not boxing ourselves in as musicians. We used to be very concerned with the wildness and diversity of our sound but now we’ve accepted that wildness. It’s a bit of a challenge to describe what exactly we sound like now and honestly that’s how we like it. We’ve listened and played too much music to be hemmed in by anyone’s expectations. That speaks to how we’ve grown as individuals in all these roles as well. Through our experiences, we’ve learned to be better songwriters, performers, and collaborators. We wrote most of these songs in a few weeks because we know the pitfalls and figured out how to move past them. Recording, on the other hand… that took a bit longer.
AF: What does the term “art-rock” mean to you?
JM: It feels kind of nebulous. It’s a sort of catch-all marketing term that gets used when a band seems kinda highfalutin and difficult to pin down. It works for us for now. It speaks volumes that the term has been used to describe artists ranging from fusion-era Miles Davis to Roxy Music.
AF: You tackle some weighty topics lyrically, from Catholic guilt and toxic masculinity to YouTube comments (a thoroughly modern source of inspiration). What inspires you as lyricists? How has music allowed you to express your discontent with the world we’re living in while also inspiring others to take action — or just make it another day?
JM: I look at an album as a diary of whatever I was thinking about when I was writing it. This was written around winter 2016 so I remember I was going out a lot, dating, being depressed, taking consideration of what exactly it means to be a man, taking stock of weird political changes that were slowly coming around the bend and just being on YouTube late at night trying to find weird shit to listen to and watch. You put all those things together and you have the lyrical contents of the record.
My hope with this record and all the things we do is that folks find we share their concerns and anxieties about living in this modern world and are inspired to do whatever they feel is appropriate, whether it’s finding some respite from this world or burning it all down.
AF: Can you tell us a bit about your songwriting process? Is it collaborative, or do you come in with a finished product and flesh it out as a group?
JM: For this record, one of us would usually bring in a demo or a snippet of a chord change or idea and then we would either stick pretty close to the demo or tear it apart and put it back together again. Sometimes that would be a really extensive overhaul; for example “Perhaps This was a Thorned Blessing, Pete” started off as a heavy Black Sabbath-style tune and we ripped it up and sped it into a goth punk thing. “Savor Your Sons” was a 30-second loop of the chorus that we expanded upon greatly. Other times it was subtle changes. “Your Imagined Past” is very similar to the demo and “Blood Moon” and “Perfecting a Function” are the same arrangement-wise, but [we] just added new elements like saxophone or synth.
All Photos by Meghan Dowlen
AF: What do you love most about songwriting?
JM: I love the puzzle aspect of songwriting. Taking a piece and trying to figure out how to make the arrangement as satisfying as possible. What the song needs or doesn’t need to make it feel perfect.
AF: Do you feel that you’re able to express yourself as deeply through instrumentation as the lyrics themselves, or do you feel that they enhance each other?
JM: They enhance each other or in some cases inspire each other. The melody of “Perpetual Yearning” inspired the confessional nature of the lyrics.
AF: Which bands inspired your sound, and how have you evolved after years of playing together and in front of fans? How have the personnel changes affected you as a group, and how has it helped keep your sound fresh and modern instead of acting as an homage to a former lineup or a bygone era?
JM: There were a few sonic hallmarks and tidbits we were influenced by. The massive jangly guitar at the end of “Harborcoat,” the unusual percussion of Einstürzende Neubauten, the tambourine on “We Can Work It Out,” the soundscaping on To Pimp a Butterfly. The personnel changes have stopped us from ever getting too bored and each new person has added a new perspective that’s kept things interesting. We’ve recently been writing with a friend who has a background in bossa nova which has been interesting to experiment with.
AF: You released a music video for “Your Imagined Past” a few months ago. Can you tell us a bit about the song and what inspired it? Why did you choose it for your music video?
JM: The song was inspired by me reading the comments on a YouTube video for “Blinded by the Light” by Manfred Mann’s Earth Band. In the comments was a Baby Boomer lamenting a lost love and how they used to listen to the tune in his pickup truck. I began to wonder what kind of person would use the comments of a YouTube video of a classic rock song to express deep emotion and nostalgic regret and came up with the character at the heart of the song: someone who had nostalgia for a bygone era but was unable to reconcile it with his present. We chose it for the video because we wanted it to be the first single and the themes of the song lent themselves well to the themes of the video. Toxic nostalgia, Baby Boomer aesthetics, etc.
“You were full of shit then.
You’re full of shit now.
Your imagined past is just that.”
AF: What’s been your experience in the Atlanta market? How has the growing and changing scene given you space to grow and change as a band?
JM: I think we probably fit in better now than when we first started for a variety of reasons. The growing progressiveness of the scene allowed us more chances to express ourselves and play bigger stages. There are so many great bands and so much opportunity to play with excellent musicians. Everybody seems to be in a few different projects because of the quality of players here.
AF: What’s next for Shepherds?
JM: We’ve already started recording a new record and we’ll probably put out a new single by early next year. We plan on moving into new sonic territory. Less noise, more space, more melody, more focus on grooves. Something like soul music.
“I don’t really think that history repeats itself perfectly,” says The Selecter front woman Pauline Black on a call from Monterrey, Mexico, where the band was on tour. Instead, she notes, “history rhymes,” adding, “I think that we’re definitely very much in a kind of rhyming situation right now.”
In May of 1979, the same month that Margaret Thatcher become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, The Selecter first appeared with a self-titled track on a split 7″ with The Specials. This release marked the inception of what would become a pivotal part of a growing movement – 2 Tone Records, founded by Jerry Dammers of The Specials. A British take on Jamaican ska that derived its name from the label itself, two tone merged energetic, bouncy rhythms with lyrics that delved into the struggles of British, working class youth, and The Selecter was at the forefront of the scene as one of the genre’s most prominent acts. “Disaffected people are normally the ones who enjoy two-tone music,” says Black, “because it actually talks about them, their concerns and possibly what the future might be if the people that run things weren’t running them quite so badly.”
At the end of the ’70s and into the early 1980s, The Selecter were an antidote to the wave of conservatism that had spread throughout their home country. “The 2 Tone label came along at the right time, at the time when somebody like Margaret Thatcher had just come into power and was deciding to wage war on people who were working class, blue collar people, who worked for a living,” says Black. “She had absolutely no time for them and wasn’t in any mood to make things better for young people at that time. Those were the issues that we decided to sing about.”
It resonated. By October, The Selecter were on Top of the Pops performing second single “On My Radio.” You can hear the beginnings of frustration and dissent in the multiple meanings of its refrain: “It’s just the same old show, on my radio.” But The Selecter wasn’t the same old, same old. For one, Black notes, their original line-up featured seven members, six of whom were black. “That immediately made us very different from all of the other bands,” she says. Moreover, Black was a rare female voice within the two-tone scene.
She points to the cover art of their debut full-length, Too Much Pressure, released in early 1980, as an aesthetic reflection of what was, and remains, the band’s message. It’s designed in black-and-white, with a checkerboard print border. “Black people, white people, women, men – that’s embodied, I feel, in that kind of iconography, using that black and white checker,” says Black. She points to the man on the cover of the album, leaning against the checkered border as if it’s a wall, his hat lying on the ground. “He’s really at rock bottom,” she says, “he’s almost in this prison of the black and white check that bounds the actual square of the record, if you’re looking at the vinyl.”
“I thought that was very emblematic of the time,” Black continues. She points out too that the checkered pattern was also used by police in the U.K., adding another layer of meaning. “You’re imprisoned in this shell of authority and those extremes, I suppose, that held you in in society,” she explains.
Their songs – like “Three Minute Hero,” “Time Hard” and “Danger” – reflected struggle, but Black notes that there are threads of hope in their work too. “There is a way forward,” she says. “But, the main thing about the way forward is actually unity and not letting all those outside forces who like to keep us in the status quo, as it were, using things like racism or sexism for their own ends to divide.” She adds, “I think all the 2 Tone bands were very much of that kind of ilk.”
Following the release of their stellar sophomore album, Celebrate the Bullet, The Selecter split. After regrouping in the 1990s, the band continued to delve into socio-political issues in albums like Cruel Britannia (1998), its title a play on the catchphrase “Cool Britannia,” and their 2017 release, Daylight.
Forty years later, and in the midst of another conservative political movement, both in the U.K. and the U.S., The Selecter, led by Black and fellow founding member Arthur “Gaps” Hendrickson, are back on the road to celebrate their anniversary. The night before our interview, the band played Mexico City, their first non-festival gig in the city. Fans brought vintage pressings of The Selecter’s releases and copies of Black’s memoir, Black by Design, with them. “It was just wonderful,” she says. On September 11, they began a jaunt through the U.S., with gigs in Europe and the U.K. continuing through fall.
The Selecter has remained active in recent years and had been touring as co-headliners with fellow two-tone outfit The Beat (known as The English Beat in the U.S.). The Beat frontman Ranking Roger fell ill and, ultimately, died in March of this year. The loss of their tour mate made this anniversary trek all the more imperative. “We just felt that we really had to celebrate this milestone, if not for us than for the memory of Roger,” says Black.
With the anniversary gigs, Black says, the goal is to take listeners through the band’s history, showing them the “narrative line” in The Selecter’s view of the world. She says, “What we were talking about then is very similar to what we’re talking about now.”
Catch The Selecter live and follow the band on Facebook for ongoing updates.
Queens-bred singer-songwriter Alex Weksler knows a thing or two about the constant process of evolution that occurs as a person goes through their twenties. Though her folksy 2017 EP Air was released under her full name, her latest EP, 20 Something, introduces her pop-oriented persona WEKS to the world. Out last week, these six tracks thoughtfully reflect on Weksler’s professional and personal growth – dating, going out, navigating identity, and feeling that crushing weight of responsibility during what’s been portrayed as the freest period of your life. Her down-to-earth lyrical style (and its laid back pop packaging) encourages a relatable discussion of what being in your twenties really means.
We chatted with Weksler about the inspiration behind the EP, the evolution of her sound, and what’s in store for WEKS next – stream 20 Something and check out her interview below.
AF: “Two Faced” is definitely a standout track – can you tell me in your own words what the song is about?
AW: For me, “Two Faced” is really literal. It’s about a real-life situation that I went through. I was casually dating two people at once and I feel like, for me, it’s really odd to have that type of feeling—or the same feeling—toward two different people. So, it was really just me navigating that and trying to do the right thing and try not to hurt anyone’s feelings, but also try to listen to how I was feeling. Of course, it ended up being a mess [laughs] but it was sort of me sorting out all those emotions.
AF: And the title track, “Twenty-Something,” can you tell me a little bit about that one?
AW: Yeah, it was basically sort of this polarizing expectation of what your twenties should be like. You have like these amazing highs—you’re young, you’re going out. It’s like you feel all the responsibility and no responsibility all at once. You kind of crash down from the highs after a while, so for me it was the contrast of emotions of feeling super stressed out and also feeling really free. That’s kind of what inspired the whole EP, but definitely that song in particular.
AF: What are some other themes we can find in the EP?
AW: I think a big issue that I never really sang about is the aspect that mental health plays in our lives, especially in your twenties. We’re faced with a lot of impossible-to-overcome circumstances… I feel like everyone was kind of giving me unsolicited advice on how to face those emotions, but sometimes it’s okay to just be sad. So mental health definitely plays a role [on the EP], especially in that song.
AF: And this is your sophomore project – what was different for you in the writing and recording process on this one and what can we hear that’s different from your debut project?
AW: I feel like it’s different in every sense of the word. So, stylistically, I wrote these songs as they were being recorded, whereas the last concept I kind of had five songs set aside and was like, okay, this is gonna be an EP. I felt like this was more of a natural process of developing the songs. They were all also very much influenced by a change in musical style, because [Air] was definitely a lot more folk-rooted and a lot less pop-rooted, but I feel like that also attributed to the change of scenery. Because the last one was about a breakup and this one’s more about navigating life in a different way, so I felt that the musical style, like getting more production, befitted the newer style.
AF: Do you see yourself continuing with the pop style or going back to more a more folky sound?
AW: I don’t know. I think it kind of depends on the things that have happened to me this year. The songs I’ve been writing lately have been in a similar style, so I see myself kind of staying on the pop route. Another reason for that is I feel like I’ve just been so inspired by so many pop artists lately and pop music is such a broad genre. There are so many areas I really want to explore, so I feel like if I keep writing in that ballpark, I’ll be able to explore a little bit more.
AF: Who are some of your favorite pop artists right now?
AW: First and foremost, The 1975. I just love them. I’m also really into Lorde, especially the Melodrama album – that had such an impact on me as a songwriter.
AF: Are you thinking of doing any visuals for the project?
AW: Yeah, definitely. We discussed videos for a couple of the songs. I have some concepts in mind that I would love to see us do, but we’re still trying to figure out which songs we want to do that with. I think, right now, the ones that are sticking out in my mind the most are “Bayside” and “Twenty-Something.” I can imagine a lot of really cool video concepts for those.
AF: And “Bayside” is about your hometown of Queens, right?
AW: Yeah, Bayside is the neighborhood I grew up in. It’s a really weird feeling to live as an adult in the community you grew up with, just how your view has kind of changed.
AF: What other ways has Queens influenced your music?
AW: There are so many amazing artists in Queens. There’s so many small venues, and especially for acoustic-rooted artists, there’s lots of spots you can go. You’re obviously influenced by the environment—it’s very diverse, there a lot of different people. Queens definitely plays a big role in—not just my accent—but the way I write my songs!
AF: Anything else to add?
AW: I’m also in the works to plan some shows, so stay tuned for that!
Team Dresch pulls a fan on stage to sing “Hate The Christian Right” at Union Transfer. All photos by Amanda Silberling.
Before Team Dresch performs their 1995 anthem “Hate the Christian Right” at Philadelphia’s Union Transfer last week, singer and guitarist Jody Bleyle pulls a longtime fan from the crowd on stage.
As the queercore legends get ready to rip into the next song on their long-awaited reunion tour, the fan – Marlene – yells into the microphone, breathless: “I want you all to know… Dreams do come true.” Seconds later, she’s dancing on stage, playing air guitar back-to-back with Kaia Wilson, screaming the decades-old (yet still relevant) anti-authoritarian lyrics: “You never wanted to care/You kill, you kill, you kill!”
Reunion is in the air these days – there was Sleater-Kinney, Bikini Kill, and now, Team Dresch. As someone who spent the Riot Grrrl movement in diapers, I sometimes feel like the significance of these “triumphant returns” is lost on me. In the crowd, I listen to queer punks wax poetic about how it felt to discover Team Dresch – an all-lesbian punk band – in the ’90s, and how surreal it is to see them perform so many years later (only this time, they had to pay for babysitters). Whether you’re an old fan or a newbie, Team Dresch shreds – but now, a week after the show, I’m most affected by how it felt to watch Marlene’s “dream” come true – to see someone derive so much pure joy from the love of music.
Team Dresch plays Union Transfer. All photos by Amanda Silberling.
I find myself feeling jaded these days, which is worrisome, because I’m only as old as Team Dresch’s second record, Captain My Captain (1996). I work at an art museum – something I’ve dreamed of for all of my life – yet, something feels off when I listen to my coworker tell me about her exciting visit to another gallery last weekend.
“Do you ever get tired of going to museums?” I ask her. “Since, you know, we spend so much time in one?”
“Oh, god no,” she says.
It’s not that I’ve lost my passion (just recently, a Bruce Naumann sculpture made me openly weep). It’s just that the older I get, I find myself less excited about the things that I love so fiercely. I’m terrified. I used to line up outside of concert venues hours early, yet now, going to shows can feel like a chore, no matter how much I still do – and always will – love music.
This is on my mind when Des Ark opens the show, reluctantly coming out of a sort-of-retirement as an homage to Team Dresch, a band that frontperson Aimée Argote credits with “saving [her] life.”
After years of touring – pushing through the physical and mental toll of being a full-time punk musician – Argote woke up one day in 2016 and realized she was burnt out. She tells IndyWeek, “I sat up and was like, it’s gone. It’s gone. It’s gone. That thing that you have inside of you that says, go to work, make music, do your thing. There’s nothing there.” Despite leaving the precarious, unrewarding lifestyle of punk rock behind, Argote’s appreciation for her longtime idols was still enough to get back on stage for one last mini-tour before she quits music for good.
Des Ark performing at Union Transfer. All photos by Amanda Silberling.
What must it be like to achieve “the dream” – to “make it” in music, develop a fan base, and perform night after night – only to discover that in this dream, something indiscernible feels wrong, and it’s kind of a relief to wake up in the morning? What does it mean that, for Marlene, the dream is to get on stage just once, yet for Aimée, living the same dream night after night isn’t as glorious as it seems? Is our collective dream – of spending day after day surrounded by our passions – one that deteriorates as you approach it, like when you get to the best part of your dream, only to wake up suddenly?
During Des Ark’s set, Aimée Argote takes a moment to preface “Ashley’s Song,” a song about processing a sexual assault. The crowd is silent as Argote explains the pain of telling people what happened. Then, a voice shouts from the back of the room: “We believe you.”
What’s so special about the bands who played that night – Team Dresch, Screaming Females, and Des Ark – is that, if you’re a fan, you’re probably not an asshole. So, if you showed up to their gig, you’re probably not an asshole. And maybe “the dream” isn’t so much about the music itself, but rather, the dream is to spend as much time as we can with people who aren’t assholes.
Jody Bleyle says: “Every night I feel like I get more inspiration to just continue… being alive, but also just doing the work of being a person in the world that is on the left, and a freak, and fighting fascism, and having to live in this world that we’re living in right now, going into the streets, fighting climate change… All the shit we have to do day to day when you’re not at a show.”
It’s tempting to view Des Ark’s farewell and Team Dresch’s reunion in contrast with one another, but they aren’t. Maybe the dream, like any progress, is not linear, nor is it static – I sympathize with Argote’s decision to leave music, especially given the misogyny that still infects even the most “alternative” of spaces. Even Bleyle openly admits: “Mental health issues drove me away from full-time rock.” Yet at the same time, even decades after their emergence, I feel immensely relieved to have a band like Team Dresch back on the road and recording a new album. We need more bands like Team Dresch (and Screaming Females, and Des Ark) in our lives to remind us of why we fell in love with music in the first place, and why every once in a while – even if you’re exhausted from the 9-to-5 grind – it’s worth it to get yourself out to a show.
When Marlene tells us, her fellow fans, that dreams come true, maybe she doesn’t mean that all of us will one day get to perform on stage with our favorite bands. Maybe the dream is more simple: to merely surround ourselves with the right people. And thank god that some bands have a knack for bringing the right people together.
Team Dresch performing at Union Transfer. All photos by Amanda Silberling.
Find the rest of Audiofemme’s chat with Jody Bleyle and Donna Dresch below:
AF: What was your dream when Team Dresch began, and how has that changed after deciding to record another album after 23 years?
JB: I feel like, to me, the dream is similar to what it was when we started the band when we were younger, which was just… the need to find similar people, the need to find dykes to play music with, and not just any music, but the kind of music that I love. I think we all felt like we needed to find people that really, we could relate to, in terms of loving the same bands, in the way that you have that burning desire, but also dykes. It really felt like life or death. Like, “I don’t know how I’m going to move forward into life if I don’t find this.” And it doesn’t feel like that anymore, but it feels like the dream is the same in terms of just wanting to be with these people – wanting to play music with these people, having that be such a big part of being able to be happy, and feel good about yourself in the world. It’s definitely not about anything more than just wanting to connect with people, and being able to play shows, and being able to connect with everybody who comes to the show.
AF: Each band on the lineup – Team Dresch, Screaming Females, and Des Ark – really did seem to have a knack for connecting with the audience. It was such an emotional moment when Des Ark introduced “Ashley’s Song,” and she was talking about coming to terms with an assault, and someone shouted, “We believe you.”
JB: Let’s assume that most people in that room have people at this point in our lives who believe us, but to have that next level where you’re in a room with some people that you know, but mostly strangers, who you can have that same feeling of intimacy and connection with – it’s just so deeply powerful and comforting. I don’t know, every night I feel like I get more inspiration to just continue… being alive, but also just doing the work of being a person in the world that is on the left, and a freak, and fighting fascism, and having to live in this world that we’re living in right now, going into the streets, fighting climate change… All the shit we have to do day to day when you’re not at a show. It’s hard! It’s crazy!
AF: It’s tempting to say that all these bands from the Riot Grrrl era are reuniting because of who is President now, but I think they would have reunited either way, because there is always something to fight for.
JB: It’s all the same river, and we’re all in it together. It never ends. Sometimes, people will talk to us and be like, “Can you believe that we’re still fighting the Christian right?” but you know, it never ends – the struggles to be seen, and help other people… It’s been going on for thousands of years, and it will keep going on. It’s in the river.
AF: Is it weird to go between a day job and punk rock?
DD: I like my day job! I go there every day!
JB: I like my day job too. I don’t mind the balance, like… your life might not be exactly as you planned that it would be or whatever, I don’t know. As I got older, I personally started to really feel like I really needed and appreciated having balance in my life, of different things. It’s always a question of figuring out how much I need at a minimum of which different things, and to just kind of keep it all in balance, you know? Like, I don’t have to play music with Team Dresch every day of the year, but if I didn’t play at all, I’d be really sad. But I like having my day job too, because, I don’t know, when I was only playing rock, it drove me over the edge. I’d already had two surgeries from rock music by the time I was 26, and I was like, “Whoa, I’m not going to make it!” And I have kids, and I really appreciate being home with them. I think it would be really hard. Even in my other job, I don’t choose to travel, so I feel like I have a good balance going, and I think a lot of people as they get older appreciate that balance, because there’s always going to be more than one thing in your life. Although, at that age, I do remember being like… You just give your life to music and nothing else matters. Your health doesn’t matter, your girlfriend doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter whether you have kids… It doesn’t matter if you die by the time you’re 29. Nothing matters but writing the next song. But then you’re like, you know what else is fun? Buying a down comforter and having a really cozy bed.
AF: Full-time rock is hard!
JB: Mental health issues drove me away from full-time rock.
AF: Was it difficult to bring the band back together?
DD: We hang out all the time anyway. This is my family. If I need to talk to my best friend, I call Jody. We get together, like, one of us has an idea like, “I want to play in Brazil,” and once a year, every other year, we learn the songs again and play them.
AF: Now that you’re recording a new album, what have you learned since the last record you released?
JB: We learned a lot of things that you just learn as you get older. We have to be patient with each other, we have to practice with each other and understand who we are and respect each other. We have to be better with our communicating, we have to be better with our boundaries, and we have to learn things that lucky people learn when they’re 14, but we learn when we’re in our mid-to-late 30s, possibly 40s. Of course, taking a break, you appreciate it more – because we don’t play full time, we don’t take it for granted. It’s so special to get to play these shows with people. It’s so incredible to hear people sing songs you wrote, to have people give you the love they say you’ve given them… It’s incredible. We’re really lucky.
Isabella Steinsdotter, known simply as Steinsdotter professionally, is best known as a visual artist. However, she recently debuted her first single, “Hidden Child,” a song about reclaiming your body in the aftermath of a sexual assault. The music and its accompanying video (directed by Fayann Smith) are equal parts gorgeous and haunting, featuring Steinsdotter singing eerie lyrics like “seduction lies in cold disguise” in a soprano voice as she walks down the street in a lacy white dress and then shaves off all her hair on a beach. Hailing from Norway and currently living in London, Steinsdotter is a descendent of a viking witch warrior whose jewelry resides in the British Museum, and this ancestry influences much of her work. We talked to Steinsdotter about her music and artwork, its incorporation of witchcraft, and her efforts to empower sexual assault survivors.
AF: What was the thought process behind your debut single “Hidden Child”?
IS: “Hidden Child” is to me a song about the loss of innocence. You’re in a dark place and you see nothing, and you try to create that hope for yourself. It’s a song about creating hope where there is no hope. There’s a certain darkness to it because it’s very real, so it’s not just the nice things you want to remember but the real things.
AF: What made you want to write about this topic?
IS: It’s a very personal song because it’s a song about surviving sexual assault at the end of the day. It wasn’t like I planned that would be the first song I released, but at the same time, when it was finished, it seemed like a very natural way for me to be introduced to music because it says a lot about who I am. I guess I wanted to release something that was real, and I feel like it is very real. I’ve had a lot of people reach out to me who have been in similar situations who have also had sexual assault, and it’s been very empowering to have all those people share their stories and be empowered by it.
AF: What message would you like to send to sexual assault survivors with the song?
IS: Basically that you’re not alone; that regardless of how overwhelming and challenging it is, if you are in that situation, there are ways that you can take back your own power. You don’t have to stay in that state of being. It’s very overwhelming when it happens, and I think the good thing about it is, the awareness about it is becoming greater. We talk a lot about it nowadays. It’s not so easy to get away with, and I feel like it’s a time for people to come together and tell the truth about it. I’ve seen even men who have done bad things to women are almost brave enough to say it out loud now because it’s so obvious that it’s wrong. It’s not really a simple message, it’s not one thing, but it’s openness and awareness – basically, showing that it needs to change and that we need to change consciousness around it more. I just don’t want women to have to feel unsafe because that is the worst feeling, and it’s nice to find something powerful in it somehow that you can take for yourself. That’s kind of what I was trying to do for myself by writing it, finding something powerful, not just something broken.
AF: What is the significance of you shaving your head in the video?
IS: It was so powerful for me personally. It was very tense because when we filmed the video, everything happened in real time. Nothing was staged. It was all about letting go of the projections that people put onto me — not just me, but as a woman, you constantly have to battle all these projections people put onto you, and you’re an object of many things, and it’s not necessarily like you want to be that. So, for me, it was about stripping everything back, getting it all off me, then starting fresh with just me. The symbolism was to get rid of all the extra things, back to the organic self.
AF: I read that you’re a descendent of a viking witch. Do you identify as a witch?
IS: Yeah, I definitely identify as a witch, and ever since I found out, it’s been extremely empowering for me personally. I know a lot of really amazing witches. It seems like it’s one of those things that is also becoming okay — it’s not something that you necessarily cannot talk about, and I just see that everything’s changing into a more open discussion, and I really like that.
AF: What does being a witch mean to you?
IS: To me, it just means being organic and in touch with our own emotions and nature in a way that is nurturing for you and people around you. It doesn’t necessarily have to be more complicated than that. I feel really humble to nature, and in some ways, that is the most important relationship to worship as a witch because nature can lead me to where I should be.
AF: How does witchcraft affect your work?
IS: In my process of writing or even singing or rehearsing, I will go outside, walk around barefoot, or sing in the woods to get centered when I’m really nervous, because I get really nervous if I have a show or something. I have to work really hard to stay grounded.
AF: I was reading about your photography, video, and performance project Seiðr, which is described as a “ritual inspired by the female vikings.” How does that incorporate your witch ancestry?
IS: Seiðr is a name for spirituality that the vikings would use. We went to Norway, and we were out in minus 12 to 18 degrees, and we found this presence where we just lit a fire and wanted to humbly give our thanks to our ancestors and to nature. Because we were hunting for the northern lights, we were dancing around the fire, and everything is intensely about visualization rather than straightforward words. Let’s say, for example, for me, a ritual can be singing and the energy you’re putting into that song. Seiðr is about working with the organic ways of nature, but being very present in that place and following your intuitive mind rather than your rational mind. That’s the state of mind you want to be in so you can communicate with something greater than a singular person. It was very refreshing. Have you ever been in minus 18 degrees? Your brain just kind of freezes, and you can’t feel that you’re cold because you can’t feel that you’re there anyway, and your phone dies quickly because it’s so cold — it just sucks the battery out of it. It’s really strange.
AF: Are you working on any new music?
IS: I am. I’m basically working to release my next song, which will be released in early November, so that’s what I’m doing at the moment. I’m also working on finishing the music for the video for Seiðr, which is going to be in a museum in Rome for a month. I have the music. I’m making music for it, so that’s very exciting.
AF: What kind of music?
IS: This one is a little different from the way I normally do it because I’ve been walking around collecting sounds in nature and stuff. I love atmospheric music in general and kind of classical, but it will be not a straightforward singy-song but more atmospheric. I’ve been very influenced by Seiðr itself and the viking-sounding music. I really like what’s coming out of Scandinavia.
AF: That’s so cool. Is there anything else you wanted to mention?
IS: It is quite funny that in the “Hidden Child” music video, the dress I’m wearing is also actually made out of the curtains that came from Buckingham Palace, so basically, they’re the queen’s curtains on the dress. So it’s even more symbolic, ripping it open. The symbolism of ripping that dress is even stronger because of where it came from.
AF: What does that represent to you?
IS: An old world that is not very functional anymore, because I don’t believe that anyone should be born with the right to be better than anyone else. It makes no sense in this society anymore.
Follow Steinsdotter on Instagram for ongoing updates.
After being friends for decades, former members of The Muffs, The Pandoras, and The Friggs, Kim Shattuck, Melanie Vammen, and Palmyra Delran, finally decided it was time to start their own band together. Kim and Melanie first played together in The Pandoras and went on to form The Muffs, meeting The Friggs’ Palmyra on a Pandoras tour. The uber-talented trio is now known as The Coolies—a female-fronted super group backed by decades of rock stardom, who are using their platform to combat ALS.
The Coolies dropped their self-titled debut EP earlier this summer and have donated 100% of proceeds from record sales to support research for the ALS Association. Living in different cities, the six-track EP was recorded at both West and East Coast studios and mixed by Grammy Award-winner Geoff Sanoff.
From the very first track, “Uh Oh!,” bubbling down to “Yeah I Don’t Know,” The Coolies dabbles in fizzy pop, punk, and pure rock—an essence that’s perfectly captured by its psychedelic 3-D vinyl cover.
Here, The Coolies talk their new band, The Coolies EP, upcoming music, and why ALS research is important to them.
AF: Why is combatting ALS and the ALS Association important to The Coolies?
K: Because it runs on my dad’s side of the family and I am super sick of seeing it take down my relatives without a cure!
M: It has affected us all by knowing loved ones enduring this horrific disease. It’s time to find a cure!
AF: Do you plan on continuing to raise awareness and funds with your next project/s?
K: I’m always gonna do a lot more work with The ALS Association – I will always do it!
M: I will always want to help in whatever way I can.
P: We’re committed to raising awareness and donations to find treatments and a cure for ALS. Diseases can be cured, and ALS is such a mystery. It’s time.
AF: How does it feel coming together at this point in your career and being able to form The Coolies?
K: Pretty crazy dammit! I love these chicks with my whole heart and soul, and we have some tales to tell! We are like peppermint pirates!
M: It’s incredible and so special! I love these badass chicks and it means everything to me.
P: It’s actually pretty hilarious how this whole thing happened out of three old pals having a laugh about a picture of Paula Pierce’s ass! We figured, why not? And it’s been a mind-blower how fast it all fell together. I love these dames!
AF: Are you planning any future shows / touring?
P: We are scheming!
M: We’re figuring it out! I can’t wait for people to hear Coolies songs live!
AF: What are you currently working on / planning next?
K: Pretty cool things that we have planned!
P: We’re already working on the next batch of songs.
M: A full-length album!
AF: Your EP is available on vinyl with a 3-D album cover, which is awesome. What gave you guys that idea?
M: I think Palmyra and Louie (the artist) suggested it.
P: Everything comes out of the three of us sitting around laughing! Kim would sign her emails as “Kimba,” which sounded like a cartoon character to me. I started signing my emails as Palimba, and not missing a beat–Melanie became Melimba! The whole thing morphed from there and ended up on (Art Director at Wicked Cool) Louis Arzonico’s desk, who came up with the illustration.
AF: What was the trans-coast recording experience like?
K: It was a hoot! Hey, it should be that easy all the time. I’m so happy! The best thing is recording with them. And we did it!
M: It was so easy! First time I’ve recorded like this and we got to be just as creative this way like if we were all in the same room together. It worked amazing!
P: This definitely proves that anything can be done these days!
AF: How has your current sound been influenced by each of your musical backgrounds?
M: You know, we all do our thing with our signature styles and sounds.
P: It’s what comes out naturally from within each of us. It just so happens to fit together really well.
AF: Anything else you’d like to add?
M: Take time to laugh in life! Be yourself and don’t doubt your abilities! We love our record. Hope you love it too!
“I look like a superhero,” says Eva Hendricks, speaking on her touring outfits for NY-based pop rock band Charly Bliss. She talks about of the power of creating a persona for performances with more than a hint of amusement. “In my wildest dreams, I want to be descending from the heavens, wearing a ginormous tutu and like, spreading glitter all over the crowd.”
Frankly, she’s not that far off. As the lead singer for New York-based pop-rock band Charly Bliss, Hendricks is known for her contained explosions of stagewear — on their most recent tour, she took the stage swathed in a gravity-defying tutu, a shell bra top, and eye glitter generous enough to be a drag show Venetian mask.
During their Oakland performance, Hendricks grinned through the glitter like she could barely contain her joy, bouncing her way through old and new songs alike as fellow band members Dan Shure, Spencer Fox, and her brother Sam Hendricks gamely supported her enthusiasm in nondescript white outfits reflective of the ones seen in the band’s video for “Young Enough,” the titular song off their most recent album.
Glitter is a beloved motif for Hendricks, even if she introduced older hit “Glitter” with a curt, “this is a song about someone I hate,” drawing laughs from the tightly packed crowd at The New Parish. The sparkly purplish backdrop behind the stage was a new addition for this tour, another step towards Hendricks’s prophesied Glitter Witch decent from on high.
Beyond stagewear and set pieces, the Oakland show was surprising for many reasons. While Young Enough is synth-y at turns, sparkling at others, and plain sweeping during at its central turning point, the live arrangements were crunchier and more guitar-focused, giving the sense that you were at a very, very polished garage show, albeit one with a shockingly sober and good-natured audience. “Something we cared so much about on this tour was upping our game,” Hendricks says. “We never want it to feel like we’re playing [the song] exactly how it sounds on the album. But kind of like the live show brings something new to what you’re hearing at home, and brings it to life even more. I want our shows to feel like a huge release.”
“I think that the best way to encourage everyone to, you know, participate,” Hendricks emphasizes, “is to make a total fool of yourself.”
Perhaps Hendricks may feel comical at times, but her on-stage emotion seems exceptionally genuine. Despite the glitter and bombast, her face is incredibly expressive, shifting through a parade of emotions from song to song, note to note. And there’s nothing skit-like or rehearsed about it — in fact, the level of intensity Hendricks and the rest of the band summoned to perform “Hurt Me,” a killer slow-burn with a chorus that can be read as an entreaty or a warning (you don’t wanna hurt me/you don’t wanna hurt me baby), gave the impression that we were watching the song be performed live for the first time.
According to Hendricks, the band was looking to create a “tight little world” for their sophomore effort. “All my favorite albums kinda feel that way,” she elaborates, citing Lorde’s Melodrama as a major inspiration, with its strong color palette, moody visuals, and focused lyrical theme. The band also looked to Carly Rae Jepsen and Superorganism for musical inspiration. As for lyrical inspiration, the influences are fairly unexpected: The Roaches, Loudon Wainwright, Bruce Springsteen, Kate Bush. “Usually what’s inspiring to me lyrically is really [the opposite] or sometimes left or right of what is inspiring me sonically,” Hendricks says. Her lyrical process for Young Enough was also a departure from her experience writing Guppy, the band’s first full-length, which they recorded twice.
“I think I didn’t really know how to write a song in any other mood other than being really angry at someone,” Hendricks says of Guppy, most of which was about a tumultuous college relationship. Said relationship makes another appearance on Young Enough, but this time with a notable difference in outlook: “On this record, I think the overwhelming mood was just of perspective and looking back with kindness, or looking back with the ability to put the blame in the right place.”
Yet that rage-filled back catalogue was an essential step in getting Hendricks where she is today as a lyricist. “I think it took me a really long time to be confident as a songwriter,” she explains. “Putting out Guppy was sort of the first glimpse I had of like, oh, I guess I can actually do this. And I guess I’m kind of good at it, if people can listen to these songs — especially lyrically — and relate to them. That’s sort of like having a magic power that I haven’t really allowed myself to feel proud of yet.”
Peeling away the anger surrounding any difficult situation is a Herculean task, but if Hendricks hadn’t been willing to do so for Young Enough, we would be looking at a very different record. Listening to the titular song is comparative to watching an unfurling scroll; Hendricks flings her old relationship to the skies, but what comes tumbling down is a story of, if not unfettered gratitude, than something close to it: You were still just a kid/you’re a beautiful boy/crushing cigarettes just to prove a point, she sings. The whole song is the answer to the questions we’ve all written in our journals, in a letter, in a text to a friend: Why did I do this? Why did I put up with it, and for so long? The pithiest version of the answer arrives during the bridge: We’re young enough/to believe it should hurt this much. “Of all the lyrics I’ve ever written,” Hendricks says, “I’m most proud of that song.”
Hendricks’ recent experience with a sexually and emotionally abusive partner makes Young Enough the story of another kind of relationship, too. “Chatroom” and “Hurt Me” are the easiest to point to when looking for direct references, but inspiration is never a simple A to B equation. Trauma is intangible, healing endlessly complex, but fortunately Hendricks was able to find strength in both the creation of this album and its release to the world. “When you keep something inside, and you try to push it down, it has so much more control over you than when you are open and willing to talk through it and connect with other people through it and kind of turn pain into something sparkly,” Hendricks explains. But while she may have learned this now, it doesn’t mean she always knew there was anything good waiting on the other side.
“Before the record came out, I definitely felt so unsure and spent a lot of sleepless night night wondering if I was losing my mind for — and my family sometimes wondering if I was losing my mind for — wanting to be so open about the subject matter. But you know, I don’t regret anything,” she says. “I think that when I’m writing records, it’s so important to me that I’m just in conversation with myself. And reflecting on my own growth and on things that I hate about myself, things that I am learning to like about myself, things I’m proud of, things I’m ashamed of. Because I think if I start to think too hard about other people, and how they’ll perceive what I’m writing about, that it will cause me to limit myself.” It was only by working under this philosophy that Hendricks was able to complete the album in the first place: “I didn’t really think much about what it would feel like to do press about some of the most personal and private experiences of my life. And I’m really grateful that I didn’t, because I probably wouldn’t have written the songs if I had.”
For Hendricks, one of her main takeaways after the album was released was what happens to shame when you finally unhook it from its resting place inside your chest. “It becomes bigger than you. And that’s a really wonderful experience when something feels so all consuming, something like shame and guilt. When you make something that’s bigger than you and helpful to other people… shame and guilt are kind of powerless in the face of that joy and that positivity.”
Joy is certainly a palpable feeling on this album, even when the lyrics go dark. Album opener “Blown to Bits” sets this tone with confidence; the song is at turns a catalog of small moments of joy (you’re light as a feather, astronomically huge/laughing out loud in your bathing suit) and the creeping sense that those moments can’t possibly last. The chorus is one that you will find yourself chanting in your car, yelling at your friend across the hall, pounding through your head as you furiously stomp your way up a hill, thinking back on all the times you knew destruction was imminent, but you plunged forward anyway.
Sell it for parts, I’m asking for more/I don’t know what’s coming for me after 24, Hendricks sings. She may not be a fortune teller, but with each album, she is building another tome of personal narrative, one that can be spread far and wide and then spooled back in for her to peruse at her own leisure. “It’s kind of really crazy [to be] putting out albums, especially throughout your 20s, where I feel like every year you change so much,” Hendricks says. “It feels like this weird decade of extreme and expedited growth. It’s kind of cool to have this marker of all of that, and to be able to look back and be like, oh, I thought I had it all figured out then.”
“I hope my life continues to feel that way,” she elaborates. “Obviously, I hope for peace and to be at peace with myself. But I love looking back like, ‘oh no, I would never let someone treat me like that again, I would never fall into that trap again.’ And then having that blown up in your face, too. And be like, ‘oops, well, I did.’ It’s just kind of really interesting to look back on personal growth and to have such a defined marker and microcosm of that that’s also very public.”
Hendricks’s care for her fans and their experience with Charly Bliss’s music is apparent, but, when it comes down to it, it’s the thought of young Eva’s opinion that keep Hendricks on her toes. “I think everyone is kind of fated to write for their younger self,” she says. “I had the same three best friends my whole life – still really, my best friends. What would make us freak out to listen to in the car when we would drive around when we were sixteen? Like, would we like the Charly Bliss record?”
I can say, without a doubt in my mind, that they would.
Charly Bliss is on tour through mid-November; see dates below and follow the band on Facebook for more updates.
CHARLY BLISS TOUR DATES:
9/18-22 – Lincoln, NE @ Lincoln Calling
10/7 – Victoria, BC @ Capitol Ballroom ~
10/8 – Vancouver, BC @ Vogue Theatre ~
10/9 – Vancouver, BC @ Vogue Theatre ~
10/11 – Calgary, AB @ MacEwan Hall ~
10/13 – Saskatoon, SK @ Coors Event Centre ~
10/14 – Winnipeg, MB @ The Garrick Centre ~
10/17 – Kingston, ON @ The Ale House ~
11/4 – Brighton, UK @ Patterns
11/5 – Cardiff, UK @ 10 Feet Tall
11/6 – London, UK @ Scala
11/7 – Manchester, UK @ The Deaf Institute
11/8-10 – Benidorm, ES @ Primavera Weekender
11/14 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Foundry *
The end of July brought the first official release from The Leanover, comprised of Ali Overing and Lou Seltz. Written over the course of several years, the 7-tracks on Portico were inspired by the idea of liminal spaces – whether physical, like a balcony or porch, or metaphorical, as in the space between privacy and publicity and the confinements of human existence. The Montreal duo sought out isolation to create the personal project and recorded Portico in a cabin buried deep within the Laurentian Mountains with And The Kids producer Megan Miller and Julien Beaulieu, with a handful of musician friends filling out their roster.
Ahead of some live dates, Ali and Lou explain the themes on Portico, reflect on recording in a cabin, and reveal some information on their upcoming music video.
AF:Walk me through the connection between the album’s title and the overall lyrical themes of Portico. Since songs from the album were written over several years, what ideas connected them enough to make a cohesive project?
We’ve both spent the last five-to-eight years of our lives in constant flux in terms of our living situations. We both finished school, were each cursed with our own international love dramas, experimented with the stability of nine-to-fives and battled between our desires for both a comfortable domestic life and an adventurous, migratory existence. Porticos represent the overlap between the public and the private. They are a literal structure that surrounds you even when you choose to leave the confinement of a building, and represent, for us, the limitations of tradition and expectations. All of the songs in Portico are linked by this idea of confinement. This can be in terms of actual space, mental spaces, time restrictions, interpersonal relationships and the limitations put upon us by our own bodies. The album deals with these limitations by working through them one by one, celebrating the tangible realities and inspiration that they bring about.
AF: Since recording this project, do you now see confinements as majorly negative or beneficial things?
AO: Today I’m feeling like the limitations are mostly a good thing. I’m a pretty scattered person, am very easily distracted, and can’t make a decision to save my life. I’m a person who really struggles to buy anything online, for example, because the idea that I might be able to find something better if I just continue to look really paralyzes my ability to choose. I think that this has really affected me artistically over the past few years, especially when I was traveling. The idea of having a concrete space in which inspiration can thrive and limited tools to work with really helps me continue to create.
AF: What was it like recording in a cabin?
AO: There’s really nothing more satisfying than having a particular goal in mind with a group of people and setting off for a few days to achieve that one goal. Every day that we were up north was spent living and breathing these recordings from the moment we woke up until we went to bed at 3 a.m. While the complete lack of distraction was fuel for inspiration, it did present a set of challenges that we wouldn’t have faced in a studio setting. For one, we had to make sure that we had everything we needed before we went up there. The house is in Riviere Rouge, two and a half hours away from Montreal, with no music store anywhere nearby. The car was packed to the brim with all of our instruments and an entire studio setup complete with desktop computer.
Megan Miller (of And The Kids) engineered our record and she had to make tough decisions about recording equipment without having ever been to the cabin. We decided to change our recording space when we got there to a big A-framed space. The room presented unique benefits and challenges. Capturing the drums with not-too-much echo took godly patience from Megan and Erik. It was nice to have limited tools and these unexpected experiments. It allowed us to weave inspiration around what we had instead of becoming hyper-picky and indecisive about our choices.
AF:Are you planning any visuals for the album?
We have so many ideas in mind for different videos for this album. However, given our status as an independent band, we’ve decided to dedicate ourselves to just one beautiful video. Emily Soussana and Andrew Scriver of Potato Cakes Digital are working on a meticulously hand-drawn animated music video for “Forward and Back.” We don’t have a date of release yet but we’re so excited about the direction that it’s moving in so far.
AF: What other artists/groups did you find sonic inspiration from for this project?
LS: I think we each listen to and draw inspiration from quite different ranges of music, which sometimes conflicts, but I think is ultimately why we are drawn together as a band. The way I think about music is shaped a lot by psych and prog – Talking Heads, CAN, King Crimson. And when I first started playing with Ali I had close to zero experience on bass but our drummer would come into my room in the mornings before our practices and put on The Roots’ Organix and Pixies while I was still sleeping, which I think helped create structure for my otherwise outsiders’ interpretation of bass on these songs. Ali and I shared a lot of music as well though – when we first started playing together I was listening to Cate Le Bon’s album Crab Day on a daily basis and think we both heavily absorbed its discordant minimalism, as well as Lizzy Mercier Descloux’s bouncy weirdness and the sense of wonder in Life Without Buildings (who also ended up giving us our project name).
Follow The Leanover on Facebook for more updates, or catch them on tour at one of the dates below.
UPCOMING TOUR DATES:
8/15 – Peterborough, ON, Canada @ The Garnet (with Peachykine, Erika Nininger, The Kommenden) RSVP
8/16 – Toronto, ON, Canada @ The Garrison (with Blonde Elvis, Johnny De Courcy, The Kommenden) RSVP
8/17 – Ottawa, ON, Canada @ House of TARG (with Sparklesaurus, The Monotymes, The Kommenden) RSVP
8/31 – Montreal, QC, Canada @ The Diving Bell Social Club (with Motel Raphael, BBQT, Gullet) RSVP
You know that feeling you get when you hear a band for the first time and think, “Hmm, they remind me of…someone?” Most of the time – for me, at least – I may never figure out who this brand new find reminds me of, but they have a hint of familiarity and, most likely, a nice little groove underneath that I like.
When listening to Atlanta alternative trio Swallowed Sun, however, there was something in the jazzy, rock-infused lines that reminded me of seeing Tedeschi Trucks Band just a few days ago. Sure, they don’t have a fourteen-person lineup featuring a horn section, but they’re cool, groovy, and just loose enough for you to sink right into the rhythm with them. They just released their self-titled debut this summer, and after talking with lead singer and rhythm guitarist Savannah Walker, I was even more convinced that this brand new band is going to be a major force in the scene very soon. Read on for all the deets!
AF: I love your sound. How did you get started?
SW: I met Aaron and Caleb Hambrick (drums and bass) around a year ago. As soon as I met them, I could tell how talented they were! We played our first show a week later and after that, it just clicked for us. I grew up listening to rock and alternative music while Aaron and Caleb draw most of their influence from jazz, fusion, funk, etc.., so we were starting from opposite ends of the spectrum, so to speak. It’s been a great combination of style for us, and collaborating has been pretty easy to this point. I really love what we’re doing right now!
AF: Were you musically inclined growing up, or was it more of a hobby? What made you decide “Oh, yeah, this is what I want to do for the rest of my life?”
SW: I really can’t remember a time when I didn’t love music. As a child, I was always singing (before I could even talk correctly), and I picked up the violin when I was six. Although I quit playing violin a few years later, it was a great starting point for me to develop my musicality and my passion for playing and learning. It wasn’t until I was around 14 or 15 that I started learning guitar.
AF: Who do you consider your greatest influences? How have they influenced your style as a writer and performer?
SW: I know this sounds incredibly cliché, but growing up, Zeppelin was a huge inspiration. Houses of the Holy was the only full album I had on my first iPod, way back in ’06. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve begun to appreciate all genres more. Aaron and Caleb have introduced me to some great music over the last year, and now I’m actually studying jazz guitar, of all things.When it comes to making music, anything is fair game. We’ve really tried to avoid tying ourselves down to one sound.
AF: Speaking of writing, you released your first full-length record, Swallowed Sun, in June. Can you tell us a bit about it? What inspired the record?
SW: We recently did the math and, speaking in terms of hours, our album was recorded in less than two full days. Of course, those hours were stretched out over a few months, so it seems like we spent way more time recording. The writing process was relatively easy; I wrote most of the chord progressions (Aaron helped) and lyrics, and the guys wrote their respective parts. Most of the first ideas we had were the ones we kept and it was a pretty natural process. We didn’t have finished ideas for a few of the songs going into the studio – everyone just played what they felt and the songs took shape on their own.
AF: What was it like to record a full-length record after the release of your debut EP earlier this year? What kind of evolution have you seen in just a few short months?
SW: I can see so much progress in our music, even though we haven’t been writing and recording for that long.When we started, it was a little rough, mostly due to a lack of experience and knowledge on my part.The difference between the EP and the album is very noticeable; for one, we we were very lucky to have Brooks Mason (Eddie 9V) playing guitar on the later tracks, as his ideas really made the songs. I can say that personally, I’ve drastically improved since last year, both musically and creatively. This has been such a learning process for me.It’s really great to see how far we’ve come in such a short amount of time!
AF: What’s it like to get started as a band in the Atlanta music scene?
SW: Atlanta is a great place to be if you’re starting out a band or an individual! There are a ton of musical opportunities here in the city, and getting gigs is way easier than in, say, LA or Nashville. It’s easy to get involved in the scene here and meet other musicians, although you have to know the right places to go.
AF: What’s your favorite music venue in Atlanta?
SW: My favorite venue that we’ve played here has been the Masquerade. The staff are really helpful and loading in and out is a breeze. My favorite places to go, though, are some of the local jams that Aaron introduced me to. Gallery 992 and Elliot Street are two places you have to visit if you’re ever in ATL. The players there are incredibly talented and you never know who you might see!
AF: What’s next for Swallowed Sun?
SW: Right now, we’re working on writing and recording more music. We’re planning on playing Porch Fest here in Decatur in October and releasing a new single by November!
Follow Swallowed Sun on Facebook and stream their debut full-length record on Spotify now.
San Francisco’s The Y Axes latest album No Waves addresses anxiety – both personal and existential – with humor, nostalgic synths, and the kind of emo spirit any ’90s kid can respect. The band has a strong a visual component to its live performances, and we get to see some of that in a surreal new video for one of the album’s standout tracks, the wistful but energetic “Moon.”
In the video, bandmates Alexi Belchere (vocals), Devin Nelson (guitar / vocals), Jack Sundquist (bass), and Paul Conroy (drums) dream of leaving earth and watching it from afar, though they spend most of the time in bed, with subtle projections lighting up their faces. Belchere’s voice penetrates the darkness, her lyrics “I wish I was born a planet / Or a comet / Just me alone with the moon and space” matching time with the driving beat. She’s searching for absolution in obliteration, a shift in perspective that makes the drama on earth seem small and insignificant. Though she grapples with angsty feelings, the video – and the music – stay pretty light-hearted, breaking the fourth wall by its end to pan out on an epic pillow fight, the perfect release of all that internal struggle.
Watch our exclusive stream of “Moon” and read our interview with the band below.
AF: Alexi, you and Devin met at San Francisco State University over a decade ago. The Y Axes still live and work out of San Francisco. How has the city changed over the years?
ALEXI: The city’s changed completely into a San Francisco-style theme park. Superfically, it’s all there, with the Castro, Upper Haight, and Mission districts still standing, but behind every door you’ll find a pour-over cafe with neatly sanded reclaimed wood counters, and in front of that door is a homeless person in a sleeping bag curled up in a ball who can’t go inside for a glass of water.
Musically, we can always count on new bands forming every year. I can go to an awesome show every night, and I feel like the sense of community in the SF music scene is stronger than ever. Maybe it’s because the cost to live here is so high that if you’re making music you either put your whole self into it or you quit, so the musicians that are here are fiercely connected through that shared experience.
AF: How has the band’s music changed during that time?
DEVIN: Though the production quality has increased dramatically from album to album I think the core thesis of the music has remained the same. We have always strived to make fun cool pop music with a little bit of a hidden progressive edge but I think we’ve managed to refine the presentation.
AF: Y’all carry yourselves as a band with a sense of humor. How does that translate to your onstage personas? What can a fan expect from a live performance?
DEVIN: We are a band of awkward weirdos and our stage persona is a band of awkward weirdos powered up by music. We try very hard to simulate the quality of our recordings in a live setting while still bringing the energy. We love playing and I think that translates pretty well to what we do on stage. Also we have cool projections that add a visual component!
ALEXI: I feel like individually we can be silly but as a band we don’t have much of a sense of humor, but because of that we’re like all each other’s straight man. I tend to tell some quick stories in between songs if I need to stall for time, and life is so ridiculous that they can feel like jokes. “This song is about feeling so crushed by the weight of the world you can’t get off the floor” usually gets a laugh. Maybe it’s because there’s something knee-jerk funny about talking about that kind of stuff.
AF: Can you tell us a bit about the themes on your recent album No Waves?
ALEXI: A lot of No Waves focuses on looking inward in response to outward struggles. Songs like “The Gap in Between,” “Another Timeline,” and “Empty Space” are about anxiety and self-doubt. Songs like “How We Begin,” “One of Us,” and “Nevertheless” are about coming to terms with the horrors of the world around us – honestly, they’re contemplations about coming to terms with my own privilege, how on an individual level I must use it to amplify and lift others up.
AF: What is your favorite part about performing as a band?
ALEXI: I feel truly honored to play with such talented and passionate musicians. On stage, I can’t help but get absorbed in what everyone else is doing – watching Devin do a solo or thrashing around, watching Jack simultaneously grooving and headbanging, and watching Paul nail a particular fill, it always gets me pumped. My favorite thing about performing personally is connecting with people as they sing the lyrics back- that’s a dream come true for me.
AF: How do you see The Y Axes evolving in five years? Are there any goals you have as a band or projects you’re dying to work on someday?
DEVIN: I think the main goal at the moment is to expand our touring. We would love to play in places besides the west coast but haven’t reached the point where we can afford to just yet. Maybe we will blow up or maybe the economy will shift to better support art so we can quit our day jobs. Regardless we are committed to making stuff happen on this front!
Y AXES TOUR DATES
7/31 – San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Shop
8/02 – Seattle, WA @ Barboza
8/03 – Portland, OR @ Kelly’s Olympian
Ticket Giveaways
Each week Audiofemme gives away a set of tickets to our featured shows in NYC! Scroll down to enter for the following shindigs.
