Tag: Faye Webster

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Atlanta’s Rose Hotel Shares Lynchian Visual for Lush and Sultry “Fruit Tree”

Jordan Reynolds is a Bowling Green, KY-born, Atlanta-based singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, whose career started in earnest when she was 19 and playing keys in psych rock outfit Buffalo Rodeo. “We bought an Econoline van that didn’t even have seats in it for like $1,500. We fixed it up, and I learned how to be in a band,” she says. “I learned how to communicate with sound guys, how to fix a pedal board on the fly, how to be the only girl on a tour with 10 dudes. It was a super formative time for me. When rubber hit the road, I was like ‘oh, this is actually what I really want to be doing.’”

Since her time in Buffalo Rodeo, Reynolds has built a career as an in-demand side musician playing keys and guitar and providing backing vocals for Neighbor Lady, Susto, Faye Webster and She Returns From War, while being the creative mastermind behind the recording project Rose Hotel.

Reynolds collaborated with longtime friend Micheal Ruth to produce her debut Rose Hotel EP, 2017’s Always a Good Reason, which helped her build a following in small-town music scenes around the Southeast. Her full-length debut, 2019’s I Will Only Come When It’s a Yes received praise from Vice, as “a wonderfully collaborative LP,” where “Reynolds’ songwriting shines as she navigates the gray areas in love and life” and featured a cultivated group of DIY musicians in her then-newly adopted home base of East Atlanta.

Since then, Reynolds has released a double cassingle 2020’s “Drive Alone”/”Constant” and 2021’s The House That We Knew EP through Nashville-based Cold Lunch Recordings.

While her full-length debut, presented a coming-of-age story, the Atlanta-based artist’s highly-anticipated sophomore album, the 10-song A Pawn Surrender approaches adulthood with a genre-spanning yet cohesive approach that pulls from an expansive palette of psychedelic shimmer and jangle and Southern folk that was inspired and informed by a chess metaphor. “I was playing a lot of chess when I wrote this album, so I started to think about these songs as if they were all different pieces on the board representing varying aspects of my songwriting, personality, and experience,” Reynolds explains. “Each piece has its own specific purpose and its own strength to utilize, but you can’t play the game with only your queen or your knights, or whatever. That became such a comforting idea and ethos to operate within – not just accepting variety but finding its inherent value. I went into the studio without any fear of being all over the board. I wanted to be limitless in letting my influences shine through the music in different ways.”

The studio backing band for the A Pawn Surrenders sessions features a personally hand-picked group of players that Reynolds knows from DIY scenes across the Southeast and includes Rich Ruth’s and S.G. Goodman‘s Micheal Ruth (synth), Neighbor Lady’s, Night Palace‘s, and CDSM‘s Jack Blauvelt (lead guitar, drums), Margo Price‘s, Caitlin Rose‘s, and Orville Peck‘s Luke Schneider (pedal steel), Neighbor Lady’s Payton Collier (bass, drums), RumorsATL‘s and Nomenclature‘s Denny Hanson (bass, piano) and a list of others.

Reynolds co-produced the album with Standard Electric Recorders engineer Damon Moon and Mirror Mirror Recordings engineer Graham Tavel. She enlisted acclaimed Athens, GA-based producer Drew Vandenberg for additional production and mixing. “I brought Damon and Graham together to form one unified brain with me,” she explains. “Damon’s incredibly curated studio space has a certain crispness that I was after. He knows how to get that clean, beautiful, organic sound. On the other end of the spectrum, Graham comes from a background in Punk and DIY, and brings a really unique analog approach. Together, I think we found a sweet spot between HiFi and LoFi.”

Thematically, the album reportedly sees the Bowling Green, KY-born, Atlanta-based artist exploring relationships, feminine rage, lust, temptation, blissful ignorance, apathy, delusions, illusions and more.

A Pawn Surrender‘s latest single “Fruit Tree” is a lush and seamless synthesis of 60s psych pop and psych folk and shoegaze, featuring an arrangement of shimmering acoustic guitar and electric guitar, fluttering flute, atmospheric synths and thunderstorm samples. While seemingly evoking getting caught in a rain storm on a narrow stretch of two-lane blacktop surrounded by verdant greenery, the song is anchored by Reynold’s sultry, siren-like delivery beckoning the listener to come, come, come . . .

“I wrote ‘Fruit Tree’ towards the end of the album writing process — a time where I was thinking very much about what I wanted from music and my ‘career’ and if that dream was even possible anymore,” Reynolds explains. “I wanted to personify the temptation of success in music as something sensual and lusted over, which brought up the image of the forbidden fruit. The lyrics are written from the perspective of the Fruit Tree, but with the tantalizing voice of an alluring woman. Sort of a ‘Be Careful What You Wish For’ tune.”

Directed by Hannah Welever and her production company Good Trouble Films, the accompanying video is a gorgeously shot, Lynchian and eerily Southern Gothic tale of lust, longing, temptation and madness

A Pawn Surrender is slated for a June 7, 2024 release through Strolling Bones Records.

Music Festivals by William Ruben Helms

Festival season is right around the corner. And you know what that means — more festival announcements. So let’s get to it.

Yesterday Starr Hill Presents, Haymaker Productions, IMGoing Events, and Lovely Day Presents announced the inaugural Iron Blossom Music Festival. The inaugural edition of the festival will take place August 26, 2023 – August 27, 2023 in Richmond, VA‘s Monroe Park. Located in the heart of the Virginia’s capital city, next to Virginia Commonwealth University‘s campus, the idyllic and historic Monroe Park, is one of the city’s oldest parks.

Iron Blossom will draw from its host city’s vibrant and diverse community to bring fans a unique musical experience with local artists sharing the stage with regional acts and internationally known headliners — while marking a bold, new chapter in the city’s history as a top music festival destination.

The inaugural edition’s headliners include Billboard Hot 100 and Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Hozier, Los Angeles-based indie rock outfit Lord Huron and indie pop singer/songwriter Noah Kahan. Elie King, Faye Webster, Rayland Baxter, Colony House, The Heavy Heavy, Nikki Lane, Devon Gilfillian, Mipso, Son Little, Celisse, Danielle Ponder, Trousdale, Josiah & The Bonnevilles, Briscoe, Angelica Garcia and The Legendary Ingramettes round out the inaugural lineup. But more artists will be announced in the coming weeks.

IMGoing Events’ Ken McDonald, the visionary behind Iron Blossom Festival says ““The growth of Richmond is on full display here. We look forward to having Iron Blossom be a showcase for the vibrancy and culture of the city and a positive, enduring part of the community.”  

“This is the moment the people of Richmond deserve and Iron Blossom is the ‘arrival’ moment for music fans in Richmond.” says Haymaker Productions’ Tom Beals. ““It’s because of the fans that we’re able to do this at all. The love of live music is part of Richmond’s culture, and we get to share in that by bringing these artists to Monroe Park.”

In addition to eclectic and vibrant music, the festival will bring attendees the very best of Central Virginia’s food, beverage and artisan communities. Fans will be able to enjoy farm-to-table and delicious street foods, craft beers and cocktails and wares from dozens of vendors. And of course, a VIP experience is being offered, giving fans up-close stage views, an exclusive lounge with cash bars, vendors and more.

Tickets went on sale already, and you can get them exclusively at IronBlossomFestival.com.

  

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Watch Rising Artist Faye Webster Hangs Out with Real Bike Life Only Crew in Visual for “Cheers”

Faye Webster is a rapidly rising 23 year-old, Atlanta-based multidisciplinary artist: Webster is an acclaimed photographer, who has shot campaigns for the likes of Killer Mike, Offset, D.R.A.M., Nike and several other brands. She’s a sometimes model — and known for being a full-time yo-yo enthusiast. Of course for our purposes, the Atlanta-based Webster is an acclaimed singer/songwriter and self-taught guitarist, who grew up in a highly musical family: her family has a long-held tradition of bluegrass and country.

Webster released her full-length debut Run & Tell when she was 16. Despite her relative youth, the album revealed a self-assured and stunning lyrical and artistic clarity. While her Southern roots were obvious, Webster was inspired by a number of things outside of country music: she was deeply embedded in the city’s hip-hop scene. Lil’ Yachty was one of her classmates. She was sneaking out to see underground shows. And she managed to befriend rapper and producer Ethereal while she was in high school. The rising Atlanta-based artist eventually signed with Awful Records, the label home of Father, Playboy Carti and Ethereal. Although superficially it seemed like an odd fit, Webster shared the weirdo art-kid ethos of her labelmates — impossible to peg, endlessly experimenting, making cool shit, doing stuff and being genre-fluid.

2017’s self-titled album caught the attention of Secretly Canadian, who then signed her and released her third album, 2019’s Atlanta Millionaires Club to widespread critical acclaim. Webster’s fourth album, the Drew Vandenberg-produced I Know I’m Funny haha is slated for a June 25, 2021 release through Secretly Canadian. Reportedly, I Know I’m Funny haha is her most fully-realized and honest effort to date. Though she has previously recorded material through a song-by-song approach, 2020 necessitated a much more intensive process than before with a hand-picked collection of Athens best players including Harold Brown (drums), Bryan Howard (bass), Nic Rosen (keys) and Matt “Pistol” Stossel (pedal steel).

So far, Webster has released two singles off the album: “Better Distractions,” which was included on President Obama’s playlist of his favorite songs and “In A Good Way.” The album’s third and latest single “Cheers” is a slow-burning, New Wave-like track featuring buzzing and shimmering guitars, an angular bass line, propulsive drumming and Webster’s intimate and expressive vocals. While seemingly neurotic and confessional, the song lyrically is rooted around a central irony — a relationship that’s uncertain and confusing that could be something but maybe isn’t. “Cheers to whatever this is!”

“Right after the first take it felt different to me and it made it feel like I was entering a new era and chapter for myself,” the Atlanta-based multi-disciplinary artist says of the album’s third and latest single. “It’s kind of the outlier on the record but at the same time is still so original and identifying to myself. Also it just makes me feel like a badass for once.”

Directed by Matt Swinksy, the recently released video has Faye hanging out with Atlanta bike scene king SIG and the Real Bike Life Only riders. Throughout the video, we see the self-professed yo-yo enthusiast doing some of her favorite tricks while SIG and the Real Bike Only crew tear up the pavement all across Atlanta. “I’ve known SIG and the Bike Life guys for many years now,” Swinsky says in press notes. “People love what they do and ye there are still many people, who are so quick to judge and label them in a hateful way. Everyone of them that I’ve met has been kind, welcoming and hospitable to us, so that inspires me to continue documenting them the best I can.”