A Massive New Album from A Whole Nother
The full, self-titled album release from A Whole Nother just dropped. This record runs the gamut of rock tonality, approach, and style, bringing an incredibly lively and sort of colorful set of textures that bring the album to life.
This is such a brilliant record, especially in terms of its energy and tonality. The album blends contemporary and classic rock, with psychedelic elements, bringing loads of pop-overtone to the table, creating memorable hooks and tracks. This showcases a band that is willing to create a record with fewer boundaries built around it than you may be used to.
Now, don't get me wrong, the record definitely rocks out and can get edgy when it wants to.
The first track, "Symbiosis," brings out a slightly edgier tone but is very melodically driving. This record boasts plenty of that rock energy, but still focuses on a bit of progressive and slightly trippy approaches to build an atmosphere that's all its own.
To me, this first track represents a lot of indie rock influence. The guitar tone alone showcases early 2000s radio-friendly indie rock style.
The progression and the way the guitars are actually performed do as well.
There's a great chord progression with some lead hook guitar work going on top, meanwhile the vocals are just robust and sort of in your face.
Vocals definitely give you a lot to chew on. She has a sort of powerful voice, but only pushes it to the roof when she feels like it. She's very tactful about keeping songs dynamically balanced so that you can still get into the groove and have a lot of fun listening to them, but she's not afraid to punch through when necessary.
This track also shows how lush the band and the album sound.
This is an amazing track to introduce the record with, as it does give some of the great staples that define much of the rest of the release.
Having said that, this is definitely a record you want to listen to all the way through in one shot.
Listening to just a few songs will not give you the full spectrum of what the actual album offers; listening to the entire thing from start to finish gives you a big, full-bodied experience.
"Out of Time" definitely showcases some of those powerhouse style vocals as she belts them out, closed-fisted and with a passionate approach. This track has a great rock tonality to it, but it is almost like a power ballad in a sense.
The song, along with others on the record, certainly gives off a cinematic backbone.
"Beyond The Brooding" portrays a lot of personality through its lyrics, which adds plenty of character and layers to the album itself.
This actually happens quite often throughout the record. You find yourself getting attached to the lyrics in different spots.
I love the lyrics on the record, but I'm more of an instrument guy. I remember instrumental hooks quicker and easier than I do lyrical ones
There are a number of times throughout the album that I have been proven wrong on this fact, however.
One of my favorite tracks on the record is called "Cell Division" which, in my opinion, has some of the best guitar work on the record. That's just my standpoint, though. Once you listen to the album, you might feel a little different, considering there's some amazing guitar work across the record.
But there's something about this song that has this amazingly sort of progressive and almost mathy kind of style to it. I dig this because it makes me think of early 90s underground heavy rock bands that I used to know and love.
It makes you wonder the kind of influences the band members pull in to create such a sound.
The closing track, "Full Circle" is a powerhouse as well, and also shows loads more of that cinematic aesthetic.
This is a pretty impactful track and a great way to end the record with a bang.
I got wrapped up in the song, and the whole record is kind of easy to get engulfed by.
Their blend of approaches has a great way of breeding their own sound, and by the time you get halfway through the record, you begin to expect the unexpected, in a good way.
I also love that many songs on the record feel like they were recorded live-on-the-floor. It feels almost like some of this was the band, in a room, at one time, feeding off of each other's energies.
Of course, I wasn't there, so I'm not sure how it was pulled off; however, listening to the record makes you want to go see them perform this thing live.
This was pretty intense and very catchy, riddled with personality, brilliant performances, and a little bit of innovation. Pulling from classic influences and spinning them into something unique is a special thing, and this record deserves to be self-titled.
Upon listening to it, I knew I wanted to sit down with the band just to find out more about where this all might have come from. So, while you listen to the record, check out the interview we conducted with A Whole Nother's singer, Lily Moskwa.
Don't miss this one.
Let's talk about the self-titled record! This was a massive record with all kinds of dreamy undertones and edgy alt-rock!! Where did this album come from?
When Dylan, Tom, and I first joined the band, there were a few instrumentals pretty dialed in without vocals for us to start working with. James and I worked together to write the vocal parts for those songs, as I came into this project from a classical music background, and at that point I was only used to interpreting music written many moons ago rather than creating my own. After spending time with James dialing in my lyric and melody writing skills in a more contemporary context, I was able to contribute more on my own and start to take the helm on the vocals on songs that the group brought to the table. This album comes from introspection, and is an amalgamation of all our personal experiences with love, finding yourself, and our take on the world as we see it.
I'm hearing a few different approaches to this release! Who are some of your biggest musical influences?
Influences for the band as a whole include Modest Mouse, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, and Broken Social Scene, to name a few. Personally, my biggest musical influences include Marina and the Diamonds, Courtney Love, and Tori Amos. I find inspiration for my singing and my attitude on stage in strong women who aren’t afraid to be themselves.
Did you record this at a home setup, or at a big studio?
We recorded this album entirely ourselves! Our beloved keys player Tom Brady not only is an incredible musician, but an amazing recording engineer. For some overdubs we were able to just individually record ourselves in our own apartments, but all of the vocals were recorded in Tom’s apartment, and we tried our best to drown out train sounds and neighbors with loud cars.
How did this all start for you as a band?
James, Andrew, and Joe originally started this project with other members. Last year, Dylan, Tom, and I filled in respectively on our own instruments and that’s how the magic started. Post grad I was feeling creatively unfulfilled after dedicating 3 years straight to studying opera and that coming to an abrupt halt when I finished my degree. I was ready to take my classical training and try to apply it to something I’d never done before. The moment I saw that A Whole Nother was looking for a singer I knew I had to give it a shot. I’d been a fan of Grampfather, James's and Andrew’s previous project, for years and jumped at the chance to be able to collaborate with them.
Do you do any live performances?
Yes we do! We like to play when the weather is nice, and try our best to play in a variety of places. Our farthest gigs have been in NJ so far, but there are lots of places for us to play in Kingston, NY, and we love those shows because we consider them hometown gigs and all of our homies can come see us easily. We’d love to branch out and travel upstate or down to the city to bring our music to new places. Hopefully much more of that to come in the near future.
Now that this is out, what's next for you?
We have already been working on songs for our next album for a few months now, and will continue to do that and keep sculpting our sound while we tour our debut album locally.
Who's in your headphones right now?
Right now I’ve been spinning Rather Ripped by Sonic Youth quite a bit. I do love and relate to strong female musicians--Kim Gordon is also a huge inspiration to me. I’ve also been on a Lilith Fair kick--there’s a great compilation on Qobuz called “Best of Lilith Fair 1997 to 1999,” and there are so many talented musicians who were involved with that. Angélique Kidjo, Luscious Jackson, Bonnie Raitt, Liz Phair…the list goes on. What’s not to love?
What would you tell people they can expect on this release?
I think everyone can expect to find at least one track they can relate to. Indie rock vibes? We have that covered. Feeling more surfy? We have something for you too. Looking for a song about your situationship, something more mellow, or even something danceable and upbeat? We both intentionally and unintentionally covered a lot of bases on this album, and I’m hoping that we can reach a wider audience because of it.
Before we go, what would you like to express to fans of the music?
We have a blast writing and performing our original work, and wouldn’t be able to do it without support from our friends, families, and fans. It’s the best feeling to play a show where we see both new and familiar faces where everyone's dancing and having a good time in the audience. The vibe that the crowd brings to our shows is one of the biggest reasons why we do what we do. We hope y’all enjoy the new album and can come see us play it live sometime soon!
