Whatever's Clever (record label) – Queen City Sounds and Art

Laura Wolf’s “Homebody” is an Avant Indie Pop Collage on Taking the Time Out of Everyday Life

Laura Wolf seems to have channeled her background in classical music into creating truly unique pop songs for her latest album, Shelf Life (out June 2, 2023 via Whatever’s Clever). A particularly striking and poignant example of this is the single “Homebody” and the stop motion collage video by Renata Zeiguer that seems like the perfect cognate of the way Wolf has assembled and orchestrated samples of sound, loops, processed noises, strings, guitar, electronic noises creating various textures and white noise as drone to create a sense of the private and the intimate one hears in Wolf’s vocals. It sounds and with the video looks like a group of snapshots of childhood projected into the adult mind and adult concerns but filtered through a childlike sense of play and aesthetic lens. It’s a song about being stuck and the self-imposed urgency to move on yet an impulse to enjoy the moment of not having to deal, for a while, with the demands of your everyday life and the song embodies that liminal moment in a delightful and captivating way. Watch the video for “Homebody” on YouTube and follow Laura Wolf at the links below.

Laura Wolf on Facebook

Laura Wolf on Twitter

Laura Wolf on Bandcamp

Laura Wolf on Instagram

Laura Wolf’s “Calligraphy and Calculations” is a Genre-Bending Alchemy of Dream-like Melody and Delicate Textures

Laura Wolf’s “Calligraphy and Calculations” is a genre-bending song that fuses elements of chamber pop and sound design production. Wolf’s vocals are a melodic near whisper like she’s writing a letter or rehearsing a conversation with someone for whom she has an unrequited affection. Sounds and tones interweave and spin off in playful whorls and staccato echoes like the musical equivalent of stop motion animation treatment of a child’s storybook. But the subjects are adult and the compositions imbued with a depth and sophistication coupled with a whimsical aesthetic that fans of Tune-Yards and the more avant end of Emily Yacina will appreciate for its delicacy of spirit and creative emotional insight. Listen to “Calligraphy and Calculations” on YouTube and follow Laura Wolf at the links below. Her new album Shelf Life released on June 2, 2023 via Whatever’s Clever.

Laura Wolf on Facebook

Laura Wolf on Twitter

Laura Wolf on Bandcamp

Laura Wolf on Instagram

Ethan Woods Weaves the Tale of a Lamb Contemplating Life Beyond the Herd on “Chirin’s Bell”

The sound of contemplative reflection at twilight runs through Ethan Woods’ “Chirin’s Bell.” Tonally its reminiscent of Nick Drake and the impressionistic compositional quality of the music lends itself similarly well to establishing a mood and dreamlike imagery. Hushed drones, processed lap steel and simple acoustic guitar melody with spare percussion to give the track some texture help to make vivid what sounds like the story of a sheep taking stock of its life as a metaphor for the roles we internalize as a matter of life circumstances and the weight we put on ourselves borne out of how that living circumscribes our dreams and aspirations until we learn to dream differently. But also reconciling one’s upbringing and background with establishing your own identity and accepting where you come from rather than reject it outright. People that don’t go through this process often end up going back to their roots in a perhaps misguided attempt to rediscover what they feel they lost. But this song doesn’t seem to be coming from the perspective of life post-self-liberation, but of considering the essence of one’s life to which one was born but considering what else might be possible for yourself. Lines like “I itemize the time you take with your indecision,” “I wonder to myself did I fuck up with my big plan” and “beyond the wooden fence can remain good friends” point to those strains of thought that take you out of mundane existence for a moment. The dramatic arc of the song is subtle but reaches a peak with all the musical elements swelling with the rise in intensity of the vocals wondering again about fucking up but then outros to returning to reminiscing being a part of the herd while considering leaving it. Listen to “Chirin’s Bell” on YouTube, look for Ethan Woods’ second solo album Burnout due out April 29, 2022 through Whatever’s Clever and follow the artist at the links below.