Catégories :
Panier 0

Votre panier est vide

Vita and the Woolf

Formed on the outskirts of Philadelphia and later decamping to Los Angeles, this brainchild of singer/songwriter Jennifer Pague explores dark, soul-searching themes in a moody, but often anthemic, synth pop style with occasional R&B undertones. Pague was raised from the mid-'90s onward in the middle-class suburb of Downington, Pennsylvania. She sang in the choir at elementary school, before going on to learn both the clarinet and the saxophone. Growing up listening to Mariah Carey and Alicia Keys, helped her to realize that she had a similarly powerful vocal style. In tandem, inspiration came from the fact that both her grandmother and great grandmother were pianists and she decided to follow suit. Further on in her education, Pague studied in Europe in 2012, where she came up with the idea of using the Vita and the Woolf moniker for her songwriting exploits. The name itself was a joint literary reference to modernist era writers, and lovers, Vita Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf. On returning to the U.S. her band blossomed into a seven-person ensemble. However, as each group member departed she began to question her abilities as a bandleader. Determined to maintain a musical outlet, she simplified the set-up by creating layered, synth-based pieces and inviting drummer Joey Anderson to be the only other member. Some of the duo's initial downtown Philadelphia gigs were on bills with local acts such as Black Stars but, in mid-2014, Anderson departed. Only months later, Pague replaced him with Adam Shumski, who ultimately became a long-term collaborator. Recorded while still at college and living with her parents, the Fang Song EP was self-released in late 2014. It helped them make the bill on the following year's XPoNential Music Festival in Camden, New Jersey. This, in turn, led to their first national tour in 2016, an event marked by the production of a tour-only cassette EP entitled Pretty Boys, featuring the imaginary friend-themed track "Brett." At this point, Pague continued to juggle the band with part-time work at Philadelphia's SpArc Services, an organization that teaches music to young adults with learning difficulties. Increasingly prestigious dates followed with acts such as Bell X1 and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, before Vita and the Woolf spent over six months recording their partially crowd-funded full-length debut, Tunnels. It was produced at Philadelphia's Spice House Sound, with the exception of the personal track "Feline," which was self-recorded as a demo due to lack of funds. Critics likened the material on Tunnels to that of Florence + The Machine, but Pague would later admit that the album represented a compromised vision. Following a March 2018 appearance at SXSW, the band went on a mini-hiatus during which they relocated to Los Angeles. However, in early 2020, Portland's Tender Loving Empire issued a couple of comparatively pared-down singles in "Operator" and "Mess Up," which were closer in sound to Baltimore's Beach House and acted as tasters for their sophomore LP Anna Ohio.
© James Wilkinson /TiVo
Écoutez

Artistes similaires

Yoke Lore
M83
Sigrid
St. Vincent

Discographie

11 album(s) • Trié par Meilleures ventes

Mes favoris

Cet élément a bien été <span>ajouté / retiré</span> de vos favoris.

Trier et filtrer les albums