New Audio: Vancouver’s WAASH Share Anthemic “It Goes On”

Andrew Bishop is a grizzled Vancouver music scene vet, who over the past decade has contributed his talents as a guitarist and/or singer/songwriter to a number of local outfits including Alex Little & The Suspicious Minds, Twin River and his own country-infused solo project White Ash Falls.

The Vancouver-based artist’s latest project WAASH sees him merging his prolific songwriting skills with a passion for expansive shoegaze soundscapes, marking both a culmination of his musical career and a fresh start. Initially started as a solo recording project, WAASH has gradually evolved into a full-fledged live band. 

WAASH’s self-titled debut Colin Stewart co-produced EP is slated for a November 20, 2023 release. The EP’s five meticulously crafted tracks showcase Bishop’s departure from his long-held, conventional songwriting process: Instead of relying on guitar, he explored beats and baselines as starting points. For him, this approach allowed him to delve into minute details, crafting lyric and melodies that intricately fit each song. The EP was recorded with Bishop’s Alex Little & The Suspicious Minds bandmates at Afterlife Studios and further refined at The Hive with Colin Stewart. Over in East Vancouver, Bishop added ethereal keyboards, harmonies from Louise Burns and perfected the EP’s reverb-soaked aesthetic. 

Earlier this month, I wore about “There’s Never Enough Voices,” a song built around glistening, reverb-soaked guitars, and a tight motorik groove paired with Bishop’s plaintive delivery and carefully crafted, anthemic hooks and choruses. But brooding despair, confusion, regret and unease swirl just underneath the sleek, arena rock friendly surface. As Bishop explains the song is about trying to come to an understanding about the intentions within your actions and the realization of your past mistakes.

The self-titled EP’s second and latest single, the upbeat and anthemic “It Goes On” is built around reverb-soaked, swirling shoegazer-like guitar textures and Bishop’s laconic and plaintive delivery paired with his penchant for rousing and infectious hooks and choruses. Seemingly indebted to 120 Minutes-era MTV alt rock with a slick modern touch, “It Goes On,” as the Canadian indie outfit explains “is about moving on, learning to let go and not really listening to what others have to say. Sometimes relationships get to a point when both people don’t really care anymore. The writing’s on the wall, and everyone around you knows this is coming. You just have to take a moment, reflect and allow yourself time to breathe.”