If It's Too Loud...

Photo by Dave Scanlon The latest from Ethan Woods is being described as both freak folk and psychedelic folk, but it's fairly straightforward for those designations... kinda. "Mrs. Moo" (named after a character in Woods' childhood created by his father) starts off with a recorded introduction that you don't typically get in folk, along with some clanging percussion. Once Woods kicks in with his vocal, it becomes a fairly typical folk song, at least for alt-folk or freak folk. But then the samples keep popping in and out, and there will be a horn playing way off in the distance somewhere. What truly makes "Mrs. Moo" a freak folk or psychedelic folk song is how Woods balances the odd and traditional within the song.  In a press release, Ethan Woods talks about his new single and video: "I made this video as a 1-to-1 translation of the song's lyrics. All the footage was shot by me and my partner on our phones between 2017 and 2019 while we were liv...

Photo by Ian Wayne The latest from Ian Wayne is a perfect example of turning pain into something beautiful. "Gimme Something" was written after the death of Wayne's three year old nephew. According to Wayne, "It’s about being destructive, and about oblivion-seeking behavior--about needing help. I think the pain we’re trying to escape boomerangs back no matter how hard we throw it. This song is about how pain returns, sometimes in perfect detail, when we want to be farthest from it." Given the subject matter and Wayne's explanation, you'd expect a far more somber song, which is how it starts out. Wayne's vocals express the somber feeling of the subject, while the quiet guitar exposes the positive feel of the song. Overall, "Gimme Something" is shockingly uplifting. As the song builds, it becomes more of a celebration than a typical example of mourning.  You can watch the video for "Gimme Something" below. Risking Illness , th...

Photo by Ian Wayne The upcoming album from Brooklyn's Ian Wayne is filled with intense grief. While on tour, Wayne found out his three year old nephew had been diagnosed with leukemia. He was gone two weeks later. That intense sorrow that I can't even begin to imagine can be physically felt in the first single from that album. "Baby" starts off as a modern Americana flavored song that slowly moves into some of the most heartbreaking indie rock guitar solos you've ever heard.  "Baby" is about a different loss for Wayne. He explains:  “'Baby' is about an imagined longview of life in love. I think love can make us blind to our loneliness, and at other times, in our loneliness, we miss one another by inches. I believe that love is guided by optimism, which makes the gnashing of teeth along the way even sadder. I think this will be true for all of us, in some respect, at least once. “Baby” is written from this perspective." You can list...

Brooklyn based artist Caitlin Pasko is tough to describe. Her latest single, "Horrible Person," crafts the listener a true sonic landscape even though it's a very minimal song. Pasko's voice is this soft and lush instrument that is going to suck you straight in no matter how much you may try to fight it.. but why would you? Instruments seem to wander in at their own whim, each taking a brief turn in the spotlight until Pasko's voice takes back its rightful place.  Caitlin Pasko says of the song:  "I wrote 'Horrible Person' a cappella, alone in my bed, in the dark. It's the first song Henry [Terepka] and I made that paved the way for Greenhouse. I remember meeting up with him at Pinch just to see if we could make something (anything), and after catching up, Henry asked me what I'd been working on. I told him I was trying a new thing -- writing songs a capella, away from my piano, as a way to bypass my usual songwriting hang ups. I remembe...