Three Music Thingz with willoh

We are so back with another rendition of Three Music Thingz, the blogseries where I ask musicians for three thingz that are essential to their music-making.

Today we have willoh! The 19-year-old musician from Missouri has had a short but fruitful history of making idiosyncratic, ambient pop; after last year's not more than that, but more please, she's putting out an EP called BUCK, which I loved, and which she wrote, produced, recorded, mixed and mastered all herself.

The thing I kept thinking about when listening to BUCK is "inversion"—every time you think a song is going to do an expected thing, it does the opposite. Beautiful harmonies get swallowed up into crunching soundscapes, chord progressions reverse course, energy and anticipation build and sometimes just hang in time forever. Likewise Willoh's lovely, earnest voice often gets buried between layers of warped and distorted chords, sometimes to the point of not being able to understand what she's singing. It is "don't perceive me" music that has has the inverted effect—I want to perceive it, I want to unbury it, I want to figure out what's going on. But even if you don't want to excavate—not all music listening experiences need to be like paleontology—BUCK can also just wash over you in all its inverted glory.

willoh was kind enough to share her Three Music Thingz with the blog...below...the thingz...

call of duty black ops two

i used to have a clan when i was 14 years old on this game and we wanted to make trickshot montages. i feel like to this day when i make music im imagining the beats hitting with the dsr50 shots.

isolation

i’ve been making music alone in my room for so long anytime i try to collab with someone or work with someone it’s hard for me. i’d say i make my best stuff alone in my room.

warm lighting

i feel like the “studio” should feel homey. it shouldn’t feel like work. i think it’s super important to be comfortable and completely relaxed to let your brain come up with things.

Thank you willoh! BUCK is out 10/23 aka tomorrow and you can find it on Spotify and Apple Music. Check out her link aggregation as well.

Thanks for reading I Enjoy Music! If you like it, tell a friend.