Band To Watch: Woelv
If Sigur Rös is the soundtrack to footage of slowly melting glaciers as they're so often described hyperbolically, think of Woelv (aka Geneviève Castrée) as the musical accompaniment to a night spent rainstorm-watching from inside a darkened apartment. The 26-year-old comic artist/singer-songwriter's Tout Seui Dans La Forêt En Plein Jour, Avez-Vous Peur? LP isn't one built for a quick hit; Geneviève's album is a sparse songcycle, tracks usually built on classically hued, single-instrument figures, enhanced by her múm-y baby coos, eerie wails ("La Mort Et Le Chien Obése"), low pitched horns ("Sous Mon Manteau"), and thunder-in-the-distance percussive rumbles. They'll burst momentarily (vox might even clip), but recede again. Some are just interstitial passages that come and go in under sixty seconds, more mood-setting adhesive than properly formed gem, others flow in and out of passages for 12 full minutes at a go.
"I will always sing in French because I wouldn't feel honest otherwise," she says (not that we'd know the difference), but her francophonic musings fit the music's impressionistic, patient unfold (like something from Kristín Anna Valtýsdóttir, or the aforementioned Icelandic post-rockers). "Drapeau Blanc"'s the track we have for ya -- just a snapshot at what Woelv's working with, but its the closest she comes to breaking the amorphous, sketch style for something resembling song structure.
Woelv - "Drapeau Blanc" (MP3)
Tout Seui Dans La Forêt En Plein Jour, Avez-Vous Peur? is out soon on K Records. Catch her on the road:
10/12 - Chicago, IL @ South Union Arts
10/14 - Buffalo, NY @ "Rust Belt Books"
10/15 - Toronto, Ontario @ TRANZAC
10/22 - Montréal, Québec @ la Sala Rossa
11/01 - Québec, QC @ "L'Agitée"
11/07 - Bronxville, NY @ Sarah Lawrence College
11/08 - Brooklyn, NY @ TBA (Todd P show)
11/09 - Bridgeport, CT @ The Nest
11/11 - Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church
11/12 - Baltimore, MD @ Copycat B201
11/13 - Charlottesville, VA @ University of VA Chapel
11/15 - Asheville, NC @ Ship to Shore
11/16 - Columbia, SC @ Nickelodeon Theater
11/18 - Gainesville, FL @ Wayward Council
11/19 - Orlando, FL @ Stardust Coffee
11/20 - Sarasota, FL @ New College
11/21 - Ft. Myers, FL @ Planetarium at the Calusa Nature Center
11/22 - Jacksonville, FL @ Inertia
11/23 - Atlanta, GA @ A Cappella Books
12/04 - Phoenix, AZ @ Trunk Space
Posted at 1:12 PM in Band To Watch, MP3, Tour Dates
Tags: Woelv
it's getting boring too much of the same minimal quircky style
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poop
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I think she is also the girlfriend/wife? of Phil Elverum AKA The Microphones, and Mt. Eerie.
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not sure if they're in a relationship, but phil is really the only reason she's getting a record released/touring. i remember seeing her a few years back with phil... she took about 30 minutes to set up even though it was just her and a guitar, and two songs in people were so visibly not into it that she stormed off the stage.
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well if you actually do like it, there is also the genevieve and the watery graves collab plastic discus/vinyl discus coming out soon through Marriage http://www.marriagerecs.com too, with collab tour soon thereafter (this year)
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you may be on to something sheraton...i saw them on tour about a year ago...here are some photos
of woelv, mt eerie, and adrian orange
http://www.flickr.com/photos/julioenriquez/sets/72157600115777810/
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love it. very mumy. or kristiny, whatever.
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Castree is indeed Mrs. Elvrum.
Her last EP on PW Elverum and Sun (Gris) was actually pretty good, despite her uneven recording history.
Now if only y'all would make Adrian Orange a "Band to Watch," and help remedy the apparent media blackout on his latest record (which is super), you'd have a reader for life. Or at least for a week.
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nick, you idiot, she was playing shows and recording before she even met phil.
genevieve is a visionary whose work stands on its own, speaks for itself.
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Rós not Rös.
/pedantry
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as a friend of Genevieve's, I know she has been making music for quite some time. I also know she hates the idea that people have to plunk her down as the wife of that microphones guy, rather than have her music stand on it's own.
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not that interesting
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My pick for a band to watch is London's Sohodolls.
Sexy music, i tell ya.
check it out at www.audiocrushpr.com !!!
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pamplemoussi LP is amazing.
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I second the Orange.
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I second the Orange.
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I second, second the Orange.
Although I do like "Mrs. Elvrum's" music quite a bit.
Thanks for the song.
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