Half Waif – “Nest” (Stereogum Premiere)
Half Waif - "Nest" (Stereogum Premiere)
Half Waif are a bewitching Brooklyn-based trio that blend fluttery, glitchy beats with classical textures, and all three members of the live band also play in Pinegrove. In recent years they’ve put out a 7″ split with Deerhoof (2012), an EP called Future Joys (2013), and debut album KOTEKAN (2014). Now they’re set to drop their second full-length, Probable Depths, a close collaboration between frontwoman Nandi Rose Plunkett and producer Zubin Hensler.
Lead single “Nest” blends strings and electronics together in a way akin to Bjork’s “Hyperballad” or some of Aphex Twin’s more lush tracks. Plunkett places a disarming level of emphasis on different syllables, as if she’s pressing buttons with her voice. She warps, twists and wraps her vocals around electronic instrumentation like it’s trapped deep in machinery, and the whole track seems to teeter between serene and hyper-robotic tones. Listen below.
Plunkett shared some background on the album:
In one sense, Probable Depths is an homage to my childhood home — my producer Zubin Hensler and I went to Williamstown for a week in Dec 2014 to sample sounds from in and around the house, and those became the percussion for the album (with the exception of a couple of instances of live drums). So the frigid New England woods, the clank of the wood stove, the floors I ran across as a kid; they all quite literally exist within the confines of the album.
Tracklist:
01 “Desperado”
02 “Nest”
03 “Turn Me Around”
04 “Probable Depths”
05 “Overthrown”
06 “Stutter Stop”
07 “Know Your Body”
08 “Tactilian”
Probable Depths is out in April.
