It’s not every band who could sound at home both talking about constant anxiety and talking about a cat, but Wombo isn’t every band. We’re highlighting two winsome selections from the Louisville trio, which are released today.
First is “Situations”, a post-punk/new wave song anchored by muscular streams of guitar and some quirkiness, with bassist vocalist Sydney Chadwick finding and sustaining a high register. On “Ida Mae”, a tribute to Chadwick’s cat, she offers deadpan narration that occasionally morphs into feline-like agitation, while guitarist Cameron Lowe and drummer Joel Taylor keep up the pace on the Velvet Underground-esque track, which ends well before you’re ready for it to.
Whatever concoction Wombo have in store for us next, we’re more than ready for it. They also answered some questions for us, posted below.
Your songwriting on these two new tracks is interesting, stark yet conversational. “Ida Mae” is about your cat, is that right?
When I write lyrics, it’s heavily based on personal experience however stark that might make the words. Usually it’s about normal, mundane stuff. I tend to focus more on the melody and the music, and the words come after. “Ida Mae” has a unique origin compared to the rest of our songs. We got asked by a nonprofit organization, Sing Me a Story, to write music to go along with a story that a child wrote. Unfortunately, something fell through and we couldn’t record the song, but we really loved the music we had written. Several months later we came back to it and changed the lyrics while still keeping with the child-like vibe. Writing about my cat seemed simple and fitting.
What other Louisville artists do you feel like-minded to, what is the terrain like there in the underground/post-punk scene?
It’s hard to say we’re like minded to other artists here in Louisville, except in that we’re all striving to create something new. That’s what makes it cool is that there are so many different types of musicians here. It feels like a very supportive community. There are too many to name here, but a few of our post-punkish favs include: Ted Tyro, Buddy Crime, The Archaeas, Aon Brasi.
I’m always curious about this from a musician’s point of view; is writing short two-minute songs something you set out to do, or just a natural process? There’s something very appealing about the two-minute rock song in a fast-paced world.
We’re never that intentional about song length. Normally we just jam it out and see where it takes us, the length is an afterthought. What’s funny is that I didn’t realize that both of these songs are exactly 1:59 until you posed this question.
There might not be too much to be optimistic about right now, but if you could leave us with this, what are you most excited about for the prospect of 2021, and the future of the band in general?
Excited for how much music comes out of this time. It should be an arts and culture renaissance whenever live shows finally come back. Everyone has been in the lab for seven months, so you know there will be lots of new tunes. We had an exciting tour planned opening for one of our favorite bands slated in 2020 which was derailed by COVID. The prospect of that getting rescheduled keeps us hopeful. Fingers crossed for 2021.
Wombo’s new single, “Situations”/”Ida Mae” is out now. Follow them on Instagram, Bandcamp and Facebook.
