Queens, New York outfit Wives have shared powerful new single ‘Waving Past Nirvana’.
The band’s debased, electronic-leanings recall post-punk and cold wave, while emphatically occupying a space of their own. With perhaps more in common with The Residents than, say, Joy Division, their bold sound is pinned down by lyrics that veer from absurdist humour to dense philosophical wisdom.
Snapped up by City Slang Records, Wives released the two-part seven inch single in May. ‘Waving Past Nirvana’ is all slo-mo synths, a chugging rhythm, and a leering vocal that actually references Buddhist philosophy.
Frontman Jay Beach offers: “‘Waving Past Nirvana’ is a literal interpretation of the bodhisattva—one who has achieved the release, the awakened eye, and yet wants to trade it back for the painful life of desire because she/he/they predominantly feels compassion. This ‘entering back into the world’ to fight a fool’s battle is the essence of ‘Waving Past Nirvana’, and the video depicts one young woman’s journey along these lines.”
The video was directed by Milah Libin (Beach Fossils, Princess Nokia), who adds: “When I listened to ‘Waving Past Nirvana’ it evoked the beauty and the mundane in a never-ending routine. The closeness to finding some sort of fulfilment, or ‘nirvana’, that keeps bringing one back. It happens to all types of people, but particularly in New York where the beat is so fast and so many come here searching. It’s not quite sad; there’s something admirable in that search – a sort of dedication.”
The debut album of Wives! The Queens, NY four-piece is the latest fit into a long lineage of New York’s gritty, melodic-meets-punk.
Wives as a band came together by happenstance — a random realization amidst friends busy with other musical projects. Jay met Adam Sachs, Wives’ drummer, while interning at a New York recording studio where Adam worked as an assistant. The two became fast friends, their constant hanging out growing to include guitarist Andrew Bailey (DIIV) and bassist Gabe Wax, who’d eventually be replaced by another friend, Alex Crawford. All were embedded in New York’s DIY music scene through their respective projects, with years of playing house shows and booking their own tours under their belts. It wasn’t until a random day of extra studio time booked for another project that the four of them actually played together.
So Removed is grungy dark-wave, tethered to daily anxiety without resorting to cynicism. The noisy dissonance of Sonic Youth, the edgy hooks of early Pixies, and the clever, cerebral sneering of The Fall simmer as touchstones within the album, sharp and prodding at the details, pulsing with urgency. So Removed plunges into the void of unknown, a tangle of contemporary dread and optimism, mapping the gray areas of alienation.
Our new track ‘Hit Me Up’ is out now! check out our videos and newly announced tour dates!
‘Hit Me Up’ was written form the point of view of a New Yorker who can’t let go. His everyday reality does not jibe with what is going on in his head, and he’s holding onto a past that never existed in the first place.
Some are in search of modernity and clear virgin territories, others are content to follow the pack; others still decide to take the history of rock where the Pixies have left, a little as if you returned to the scene of your first gallon thirty after and nothing had moved. The kids of Wives, a quartet made in New York City poised to become the new darling of Queens, are part of this glorious category. Just one month after unveiling their first single, Waving Past Nirvana , their debut album is due out anytime soon.
With “The 20 Teens,” Queens, NY-based quartet Wives take a stab at writing a timely ode to the present. In an interview with frontman Jay Beach admits, “I heard a song by A Flock of Seagulls. My friend turned to me and said “why don’t they just call this song ‘the 19 eighties’, cuz when I listen to it that’s all I can think of.” I laughed and said I would write a song called ‘The 20 Teens’.”
“The 20 Teens” marks the band’s third single this year, a taste of their debut full-length So Removed which will be October 4th via City Slang Records.
Wives may have been the grittiest group encountered at NON-COMM this year, but “Workin'” shows off a different side to this Queens-based, grunge four-piece. With their rumbling guitars and singer-guitarist Jay Beach’s languid vocals, Wives weaves together a thick, bassy carpet of sound in this cut. A good old guitar chugging in a strident back and forth, a rhythmic part backwards I’m Waiting for My Man , schizophrenic words chanted in a nonchalant morgue, Workin ‘ is a little hymn that should make you stamp impatience until you know more (we’ll tell you soon) about the bright future of this bunch of dirty kids too good to be true.
They tell us: “‘Workin” was a poem written while having a nervous breakdown in a 3rd floor walk up in Brooklyn, NY. My inward turmoil became the outward predicament of all of us workin’ stiffs. The ground actually did turn over and the floorboards were shifted. It must have been a manifestation of something going on inside my brain, and all the visions were coming at me in stop motion waves. The band played this track in one take and it was so good that we had to keep it and adjust the vocals slightly to fit the contours, which is how the chorus came about. The chorus being more or less the macro view of what was going in inside of my micro consciousness. From the personal out into the universal, but only because of that great guitar line!”
The track is the sound of four men in a room, doing exactly what the song title suggests: ‘Workin”. The track grinds and grooves along in waves of squalling guitar and unwearying percussion, dragging your tired mind through the rest of your work day and out into the sunshine of freedom. Even when surrounded by chaos and stress, as described in the above quote, they haul themselves through it, finding musical and emotional strength in one another and reproducing it as the alt-rock juggernaut that is ‘Workin”.
The Fat Angel Sings 