Pop music is an odd profession isn’t it?
What other job in the world for example would you promote
your product / brand by sitting in the bath (fully clothed or naked / with or
without water) and do a photo shoot to promote it?
I could almost understand it if for example it was a
plumbing company. But a musician? Yet so many of them do. Have a look on
Twitter for #musiciansinthebath for a few examples.
Another odd way that musicians ‘promote’ their work is via
the defeatist bio or CV.
“Gloomy rock band.”
“Just another beige indie group.”
“I just write songs.”
“Jazz school dropout.”
These are real examples. Frankly they don’t inspire
confidence. If this was the first round of shortlisting for an interview I doubt if any of this
lot would get through.
But of course, this is rock ‘n’ roll kids – where it pays to
be anti-establishment and alternative.
The jazz school droput is the subject of today’s post. She’s
called Wallice and she’s based in LA.
With two songs out there on streaming services (although you'll find a bunch of older stuff going back 5 years on Soundcloud - of these songs Call Me By Your Name is particularly lovely) she’s ditched
the jazz for pop. I’m not suggesting that she’s making the deathlessly bland super
produced pop that sits easily on daytime radio. Instead, based on the 2 most recent songs it seems that Wallice’s
music is more lo-fi indie but still packed with mellifluous melodies and hooks –
fans of Clairo, beabadoobee or Lauran Hibberd will probably find something they
like here.
Debut single Punching Bag is lyrically one of those can’t forget you tunes: “Left my Hydro flask in the back of your car, I'd like to have it back but you live so far? Can I come and grab it later today? Can I stick around? I drove all this way.”
Second and latest track 23 deals with the aspirations
of a young (but not that young - sorry Wallice youth is over) person approaching their twenty-third birthday and how sometimes life
doesn’t quite pan out the way you hoped. Wallice sings about being “terrified
of the future, scared that I’ll still be a loser.” Mind you her (laced with cynicism?)
aspirations are pretty high: “Maybe I’ll get married soon and buy a house with 3
bedrooms.”
Conclusions to all of this? Wallice may be rubbish at writing a bio, but she’s pretty good at making music.
Wallice - 23 (Video)
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