If it’s the first day of autumn after summer, I’ll feel for a split second like every other first fall day in my life is laid out before me. I don’t know if it’s just a “me” thing, but when there’s a seasonal transition, I feel like a window is opened within me to all the other years I’ve lived through that change and all the memories that come with them are momentarily unlocked. I’ve been telling people, when I’m trying to explain what a song or the album is referencing, about this experience I have whenever a season changes: summer to fall, fall to winter, every switch. The first handful of songs on the record, I realized recently, share a lot of the same metaphors, which was funny-I hadn’t even noticed that as I was writing them! Sometimes you can get trapped in places and routines without even realizing it, and while Baltimore is still a wonderful place-it feels in many ways like my spiritual home, and it’s where my family and the majority of my friends are-I think it can be very valuable to move out and get some perspective and space, especially when you’ve been the same place your entire life like I’ve been with Baltimore.Īnother big part of it, besides freedom and perspective, was the concept of patterns, repetition, and circularity, which showed up a lot in “Everything Is Happening Today” in particular. And a lot of that sort of perspective-I didn’t realize it until I left and did a lot of solo traveling to make the album, going to a lot of different cities and other places, but along the way it occurred to me that I’d never really had that distance, that perspective, for the place that I’d come from because I’d stayed there so long. A lot of the record revolves around observing life from a bit of a distance. JENN WASNER: Those were definitely major parts of it, for sure. Were freedom and the sense of being caged at the forefront of your mind when you were writing “Everything Is Happening Today” and If You See Me, Say Yes? Your website includes a letter from your friend Rachel Monroe, who talks about your move from Baltimore to North Carolina and your feelings of being “eaten alive” by Baltimore despite loving the city. Like the exhilarating feeling you get while diving, and the moment right between taking a leap and hitting the water-that’s what this track felt like to me: freedom. VICTORIA CHIU: My first thought when I heard “Everything Is Happening Today” was that the song is so grand and bold and orchestral, like it’s building up to a huge incoming climax. Last week, I talked to Jenn about staying mentally young, taking the reins on creativity, and keeping it all in perspective. It’s a lyrical, anticipation-building song called “ Everything Is Happening Today”: Today, we’re psyched to premiere the second single off of Flock of Dimes’ debut album, If You See Me, Say Yes. The solo artist has logged over a decade’s worth of music-making experience as one half of the indie rock duo Wye Oak, and recently she’s chosen to breach some personally unexplored ground: new methods of creation, a new location, and a new name. And Wasner sounds at ease depicting the depth and complexity of the different phases of a heartbreak during songs like “Two” or “One More Hour.What is Flock of Dimes? The answer, says Jenn Wasner, the singer-songwriter behind the stage name, is rooted in the who rather than the what. The singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer crafted her latest solo project in a few short months last year during quarantine in North Carolina, this time readjusting her DIY ethic to welcome the contributions of co-producer Nick Sanborn (of the band Sylvan Esso, with whom she’s toured) and a small group of collaborators.įrom the stark vocals on the opening track “2 Heads” to the layering of rough-edged guitar lines during “Price of Blue,” the sonic settings beg for full attention. Jenn Wasner, the musical mind behind Flock of Dimes, is best known for her work in the long-running indie band Wye Oak. Head of Roses, the second album from Flock of Dimes, is a mix of sonic styles and influences set against the exploration of a relationship’s end.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |