Half Waif’s Week in Pop
Half Waif just dropped one of our favorite releases with the EP form/a via Cascine & it is our honor, pleasure & privilege to present Nandi Rose Plunkett’s following exclusive Week in Pop guest selections titled:
Songs To Keep You Warm
by Half Waif
Despite growing up in snowy Western Massachusetts, I never developed a taste for winter. I’m cold all the time. I become a shriveled being in the winter. Seemingly no amount of wool socks, sweaters, or blankets will warm my insides. So I made this playlist of songs that are bringing me warmth this wintertime. These are tunes to be listened to while curled inside a personal blanket fort, while holding a mug of hot chocolate, or while sitting by a woodstove with a cat on your lap.
Half Waif portrait photo shoot at DC9; photographed by Max Sall.
Choir Boy, “Angel Dog“
This album is a warm bath. I love it more every time I hear it! As our tour manager Phil Randall described it: this sounds like being born. And it’s true, there is a certain amniotic protectiveness to these songs. You feel encased and safe, suspended in the hug of his voice.
Half Waif at DC9; photographed by Max Sall.
Lydia Ainsworth, “The Road“
What a banger of a first single—I’m super excited for her new record. I got my band into Lydia on this tour and we’ve all been singing this chorus at the top of our lungs in the van. Singing loudly is good for circulation.
Half Waif portrait shoot at DC9; photographed by Max Sall.
Steady Holiday, “Open Water“
Dreamy dreamy dreamy. I love the way this song sounds, the mix of it: plinks and plonks like little bits of spitfire. Silky string-synths, fluid bass, and hazy drums. The stray burble of a low horn. It feels like a throwback while simultaneously launching me into a futuristic dream state.
Half Waif at DC9; photographed by Max Sall.
Weyes Blood, “In the Beginning“
Weyes Blood is the best at making music that sounds sepia-toned. In the beginning, I was all dreams, goes the titular lyric that falls out of her mouth like a wounded bird or a string of lost pearls. I love that this music isn’t clear emotionally; it’s not distinctly happy or sad, it’s just the way that life is. I want to wrap myself up in this nostalgia and pretend I’m imagining a past in 1970s California.
Half Waif photo shoot at DC9; photographed by Max Sall.
Deerhoof, “Learning To Apologize Effectively“
My favorite song from their latest record. The first melody we hear is CHILLING. Then the warm crunch of the guitars comes in, and the classic Deerhoof twist of moods and melodies, and you’re awash in a psychedelic adventure of infectious vocals and stuttering distortion. It’s full of surprises to keep my mind off my frozen toes.
Half Waif portrait photo shoot at DC9; photographed by Max Sall.
Lomelda, Columbia River
I love this album with my whole heart. Maybe it’s because I listened to it obsessively while in Florida for a few weeks, but to me it feels like humid music, like nighttime summer air that just hangs on you as you’re riding your bike around a neighborhood that’s shaggy with vegetation. Hannah’s voice breaks my heart and wraps it in gauze. This is some of the most impressive songwriting craftsmanship I’ve heard in a long time.
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Catch Half Waif playing Terrorbird Presents Cascine X Arbutus SxSW official showcase 2017 March 15 at Valhalla, 710 Red River St, Austin, TX alongside Lydia Ainsworth, Mozart’s Sister, NOIA, Chad Valley, Forever, Neon Bunny, She-Devils & DJ sets from Yumi Zouma & Sui Zhen, oka DJ Susan.
