no offense but annie why are you still beating yourself up it happens all the time.. annie why have you gone closing all your doors i haven't closed mine ... annie im awake on the other side of the wall .. but i cannot hear your mind

Could you please make a playlist for Ashlynn Crystal? <3

a little more – milk.

shake – metro station

how it feels – coin

love me 4 me – rina sawayama

you're okay – brodyn

never-ending summer – cyd

need to know – doja cat

comme des garçons (like the boys) – rina sawayama

reruns – sugr?

your heartbeat against mine – from indian lakes ft. nandi rose plunkett

sushi for breakfast – bayli

tokyo love hotel – rina sawayama

american teen – khalid

lounar – tobi lou

Half Waif Live Preview: Noonchorus, 7/21

Photo by Ali Cherkis

BY JORDAN MAINZER

For her third full-length album in four years, the prolific Nandi Rose Plunkett, who records as Half Waif, collaborated with Zubin Hensler to make what was originally supposed to be a sparse piano album. Instead, Mythopoetics (ANTI-), recorded at Pulp Arts in Gainesville, ended up being the most complex-sounding Half Waif record yet, quite the feat for the person who has already made Lavender and The Caretaker. Like those albums, Mythopoetics contains its own aesthetic palate, clattering percussion, panning, arpeggiated synths, and Rose’s swooping, layered vocals. She’s called it the record she’s been wanting to make for 10 years--not just because of its confident instrumentation and singing, but perhaps because it seems to be where Plunkett finally rejects the crippling nature of pain and generational trauma.

It takes a while, though, for Plunkett to get to where she wants to be. Mythopoetics is a journey heavily focused on how death can debilitate us and dominate our thoughts. “To be a bird and tuck my head into my feathered neck / Watch all the world turn black, wish I could live like that,” she sings on opener “Fabric”. On the chopped, skittering “Take Away The Ache”, even the love she’s experiencing with her husband she knows will end when one of them dies. The pulsating “Swimmer”, about Alzheimer’s, sees her speaking to someone suffering from the disease; anybody who has experienced a loved one succumbing to it can identify with heartbreaking lines like “I hope you’re listening to me wherever you are.” As is appropriate with the themes, many of the songs’ samples and synthesizers cut in and out, mirroring ideas of decay and playing with our own semblance of memory.

Mythopoetics is probably the closest Plunkett has come to pop as Half Waif, though it’s still very much a Half Waif album. You’d be hard pressed to find other pop songs as desperate as “Party’s Over” or death-focused as “Midnight Asks” on a non-Half Waif release. But the upbeat nature of the record’s songs almost acts as a bed for Plunkett’s words. The rippling synthesizers of “Sourdough” soundtrack lines about what’s passed down or outward. “I make sourdough on the counter like he showed me / Though I taste his loneliness in the crust of every loaf,” Plunkett sings. “Horse Racing” is a song written at the beginning of COVID, and while many of the lyrics are clear ruminations on “the new normal,” its ambient techno intro segueing into a hefty beat with horn synths reflects feelings of trying to break free.

Ultimately, it’s the one-two punch of “Orange Blossoms” and “Sodium & Cigarettes” that defines Mythopoetics’ emotional climax. The former begins with Plunkett wishing there’d be someone to take care of her and “give me the damn highlights” of daily mundanities like emails and the news. The song ends, though, with her planning a garden for her and husband as “a sign to whichever one of us survives.” It’s the perfect stepping stone to the latter song, the album’s penultimate and actually one of those piano ballads she was originally trying to make with Hensler. “I believe in something more than what’s in front of me,” Plunkett sings in an act of self-preservation. Mythopetics is the sound of someone coming to terms with life.

Half Waif performs tonight via Noonchorus at 7 PM CST.

Absolutely in love!! One of the best songs of 2018!!! 💞💞

ART BLANCHE: form/a

As a self-proclaimed “alternative to CD and Tape packaging,” Brittany Gannon has built up Pavonine Packaging through a combination of her own talent and the relationships she has developed with different bands. 

One of those connections has been with the band Half Waif, who have tapped Brittany to work on several of their releases, including their most recent EP, form/a.

Half Waif - form/a (via Pavonine Packaging)

“I had done the packaging for Half Waif’s previous release, Probable Depths, so they thought of me when they needed packaging for form/a,” Brittany explained in an email. 

Because Brittany works on Pavonine in her free time, she is often busy filling older orders when a new job comes in. This adds a layer of complication to new projects as she doesn’t always have time to sit down right away and flesh out any ideas she has for the piece. At the same time, this almost forces her to take a slow and methodical approach to developing new ideas.

“I couldn’t work on form/a right away because of other orders so I had a few weeks to think about what I wanted to do. A lot of the time I get an order and I really don’t know what I am going to do,” she explained. “Some order forms don’t have any hint of what the customer wants so my mind doesn’t have that initial starting point to build on. I don’t know how but I always seem to figure something out.”

In the case of form/a, the band had given her some direction to work with, as well cover art to build off of.

“I think [the packaging] was all inspired by this sentence that Nandi [Rose Plunkett] wrote in the order form: The cover art conveys the idea of ephemeral moods being made tangible, so that you’re able to actually visualize the feelings exploding from the chest.”

Half Waif - form/a (via Pavonine Packaging)

On top of that, Nandi and Half Waif wanted the packaging to be “travel friendly” so that it would hold up if they brought it along on their upcoming tour. 

With that direction in mind, Brittany was able to start coming up with some ideas.

“For Half Waif I spent those weeks thinking about ‘ephemeral moods being made tangible.’ Once I had my idea for Half Waif it took about 2-3 days to finish the design. The packaging itself took about 6-8 weeks finish an order of 75,” Brittany wrote. “The inside of the packaging is the chest and the cut out, pop up lines are those exploding tangible ephemeral moods.”

Circling back, it was Brittany’s past connection with Half Waif that prompted them to ask her to work on form/a, but it was also that same relationship, this time coming from Brittany’s perspective, that fueled her work on the project.

“I think my love for Half Waif’s music was a big influence on how complex I was willing to go with the design,” Brittany explained. 

-Dylan Singleton

Half Waif Interview

Check out the interview I did with Half Waif for Rare Candy: Half Waif is the ongoing project of Nandi Rose Plunkett who is also a member of the New Jersey band Pinegrove. Her ethereal and complex songs bring to mind an underwater impressionist painting, and her often haunting melodies pierce in their emotional intensity. Zach Levine and Adan Carlo, both also members of Pinegrove, play drums and…

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“Frost Burn” by Half Waif // Form/A = EP (Out 2.24.17 via Cascine)

The second single from the new EP by Brooklyn's Half Waif, is a kaleidoscopic stunner that sways from swirling synth waves to dramatically cinematic dream pop and back again effortlessly. The brainchild of Nandi Rose Plunkett swings for the fences, nailing every note and leaving you floating alongside it’s airy rhythms and sweepingly beautiful melody. Easily one of the best tracks to come down the line in recent months. This one is going to be on repeat for a while. Love everything about it. 

take away the ache - half waif / love me more - mitski

Once known as Swim Good, Canadian musician Jon Lawless now goes by Swim Good Now. Along with the name change comes a gorgeous new song on his buddy Ryan Hemsworth’s label Secret Songs. It Was The Longest Day Ever also features Canadian duo Georgian Bay and Nandi Rose Plunkett of Brooklyn’s Half Waif as welcome guests. The lead single from Swim Good Now’s forthcoming full length Daylight is a pastoral and languorous, hushed and delicate folktronica gem whose soft dewy glow reminds me of the first days of spring. On such days, we look forward to the coming summer months with fervent yearning, just like how we might long for someone we miss with much intensity. A sliver of hope hangs in the air even as we mourn the void that lurks in our hearts. It Was The Longest Day Of The Year is a truly talent studded collaboration. It was even co-produced by Japanese Wallpaper and Aaron Mohr.

Live Picks: 11/12

From Indian Lakes’ Joey Vannucchi

BY JORDAN MAINZER

Metal stalwarts and genre-bending indie.

Cannibal Corpse, The Forge

We’ve seen Cannibal Corpse before and can confirm that they absolutely bring it. Their most recent album is 2017′s Red Before Black, whose title track got a video early this year. The current tour that includes a stop in Joliet tonight is simply a way to close out the year for the hardworking band (with Hate Eternal frontman/former Morbid Angel guitarist Erik Rutan filling in for Pat O’Brien, who was arrested for assault and battery a year ago), but word on the street is that they’re going to start recording a new record after the tour.

Australian deathcore band Thy Art Is Murder and Tampa blackened death band Perdition Temple open.

From Indian Lakes, Beat Kitchen

Unlike the expansive indie rock of 2014′s Absent Sounds and 2016′s Everything Feels Better Now, the new From Indian Lakes record is full-on bedroom pop. It’s not just an aesthetic: Dimly Lit was written, recorded, and produced by Joey Vannucchi at his Harlem apartment. The sound is cohesive if not novel, from the shoegaze synths of “New Love” and the charging beat of “Dissonance” to the looped, lo-fi guitars of “It Pulls You Up” and shuffling hi hats of “Garden Bed”. For the most part, the highlights come in the form of the involved guests. Half Waif’s Nandi Rose Plunkett elevates the heartfelt “Your Heartbeat Against Mine” and “A Bad Dream”, while PVRIS’ Lynn Gunn duets with Vannucchi on the syncopated, hand-clapped “Did We Change”. Vannucchi’s singing is generally breathy and his lyrics obtuse, as Dimly Lit succeeds mostly with its ambiance rather than its themes. One outlier is late standout “ULS”, whose pulsating synth beat and finger snaps complement something at once sultry, desperate, and sad. “When I taste your love / My lips feel numb / When you’ve had enough / Will I come undone?” Vannucchi asks, putting his vulnerabilities on display, genuinely and honestly.

Philly band Queen of Jeans (whose Miri Devora guests on Dimly Lit) and Minneapolis pop project Yummm open.

2, 10, 23 for the music ask!

2. what band/artist needs more love?

there’s a never ending list, honestly, but i’d put foxes in fiction, half waif, and serpentwithfeet at the top rn. half waif especially - nandi rose plunkett is wildly underrated as a songwriter.

10. what are the best playlists you’ve made?

i had a radio show at my undergrad radio station for 3 semesters where i only played music that was not by americans, not in english, or both, and i put together some great playlists for that, especialy my last semester. i’ve also done some good roadtrip playlists, although i’m more self-indulgent with those.

23. what artist can you absolutely not stand?

i can’t really think of any! there’s a lot of musicians whose music i dislike, but since i control basically 100% of the music i hear these days, i haven’t heard anything that i thought was totally unbearable.

Half Waif - Ordinary Talk (from The Caretaker out March 27) Love Nandi, can’t wait to hear new stuff from her.

Some Thoughts on Music: Personal Preference, Diversity, and Accountability

I first heard of Half Waif when I saw them live opening for Julien Baker in 2017. I’m not usually into electro pop but there was something about this band’s sound that really captivated me. Afterwards, I followed up by looking up their live performances on places like NPR Tiny Desk Concert and Audiotree Live, both of which I also really enjoyed. During this time, though, the band was on the periphery, as I was getting more and more obsessed with Mitski and Thao and the Get Down Stay Down. I saw Half Waif again last night at their headlining show in Los Angeles. This time, Nandi Rose Plunkett performed solo, yet somehow she still managed to fill the stage with her presence. I was so blown away that I bought her album.

This morning, as I was listening to the CD, I was idly scrolling through her Instagram when I spotted a photo of her in a Sari. Wait, what?! I did some Googling and, yup, she’s part-Indian. I had no idea! This revelation filled me with Asian pride. I’m already a huge fan of her music after seeing her live the second time and listening to her album, but that made me love her just that much more.

Then I got to thinking: Is it a bad thing that I like certain artists based on their gender, race, or sexuality? I started listening to Tegan and Sara in the first place because of the novelty of them being lesbian twin sisters; I found out about Thao Nguyen as I was searching for Asian American musical artists. But with Nandi, it was the other way around, I came across her music first, then found out about her cultural identity. I do believe that Thao’s and Tegan and Sara’s bodies of work stand on their own, that I would’ve fallen in love with their music regardless of who they were. But who they were made me fall in love with them, not just as artists, but as people. I think it’s fine to want diversity in the people whose art you consume. Whether explicitly or implicitly, their experiences inform their art. Once I’d found myself rather unwittingly distanced from the music of straight white men, I’d found it kind of refreshing. It’s okay to be drawn to artists who may have shared some of your experiences, as well as artists whose experiences don’t quite mirror your own.

I wrote the following a few months ago, after seeing Thao perform live. At the time, I was reluctant to publish it for some reason. Coincidentally, in the last week or so, some news has come to light regarding Ryan Adams. I’ve never listened to his music, and now I don’t think I ever will. I’m a huge fan of Phoebe Bridgers, so it really puts a face to the issue and brings it into perspective. In light of all this, and my newfound appreciation for Nandi, I thought I should share this now:

For many years, Brand New was one of my most favorite bands. Their albums Deja Entendu and The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me were life-changing for me. I was so drawn to how depressing and self-deprecating their lyrics often were, and how experimental and challenging their sound was. I learned how to play a lot of their songs on guitar. I went to see them once, and even got a t-shirt at their show, which I would wear proudly at school for years until the color faded. I looked up to frontman Jesse Lacey as a musician, both for his vocals and for his songwriting. I never met him, though, but I’d read random accounts online that he wasn’t always the nicest with fans. The ancient beef they once had with Taking Back Sunday, and the fact that they did minimal press and interviews, only added to their alluring mystique. When they announced that their most recent album would be their last, I was heartbroken.

That is, until Jesse Lacey was faced with allegations of sexual harassment.

The band’s silence, which I once thought was cool, now looked like cowardice. Lyrics which once seemed like a guilty fantasy started to sound like a confession. I found that I was no longer able to listen to their music. I took down any covers I had recorded of their songs. I even considered burning the shirt I had of theirs, which would’ve been kind of funny because the image is of a tree on fire. I reacted a similar way when news came out about Louis C.K., Aziz Ansari, and Kevin Spacey. I’d finished Louie (the show) and Master of None, regarding them as some of the best half-hour shows I’d seen, and I was two seasons into House of Cards . Now, any time I see their names and their faces online, I am filled with disgust. I can hardly go through clips of Parks and Recreation anymore, and I loved that show so much. It’s a certain kind of betrayal when someone whose work you’ve looked up to for so long is accused of such horrible things. For a while, I actually believed that you shouldn’t have heroes, because they will fail you.

In my second year of college, I was taking a class on Asian American Fiction, and it opened my eyes to the amount of literature that I was missing out on from people who looked like me and shared my experiences. I figured, if there were so many Asian American authors out there I didn’t know about, surely there were also Asian American musicians I should look out for. And so, through research, I discovered Thao Nguyen. I tried getting into her music, listening to her first album, but was initially put off by her indie/folk sound, as it wasn’t really what I was into at the time. But still, I was thrilled that someone with my last name was making it in the music biz.

Flash forward a few years, and a Mitski song is covered on Adventure Time, one of my favorite shows. I looked into Mitski’s albums and was blown away. I immediately learned every song I could of hers, and I tried getting my friends to join me in recording covers. Through her, I then discovered a bunch of other artists, some of them Asian American, but all of them female. After a while, I figured, I should give Thao Nguyen another shot. So, I did the logical thing (haha) and skipped a few albums, going from her first album straight to her most recent one, and boy was I glad I did so. As obsessed as I am with Mitski, some days the only thing I want to listen to is that new Thao album. From there, I went backwards, listening to her third album, and then her second, and I found that, hey, I like these albums a lot, too. When she tweeted out that she was playing a free show in LA, I made plans right away to go see her.

For the past maybe year and a half, I’ve been listening almost exclusively to female artists, some of them Asian, some of them LGBTQ+. I would like to think that this is me being more open-minded towards the kinds of artists I am drawn to, but at around the same time this was happening, all the stuff with Brand New and Jesse Lacey went down, and for some reason, not only was I unable to listen to Brand New, I also had little interest in listening to new albums from bands I had listened to alongside Brand New, whom I associated with the same era in my life. I’d like to think this, and my current interest in female artists, is more correlation than causation. I don’t want to give him too much credit.

When Thao performed her song “Meticulous Bird” (and I honestly can’t say for sure if this was from a video or from when I saw her live), she dedicated the song to, as she put it, “survivors of all kinds,” and that meant a lot to me, not as someone who’s experienced sexual harassment, but someone who is a human being who knows other human beings who’ve posted the hashtag #metoo on social media. She performed her entire solo set with such passion and energy, it was so captivating to watch. I was very glad that I returned to her older albums, as I was able to recognize more than just songs from A Man Alive. Afterward, I saw that she was taking pictures with fans, so I decided to get in line. When I walked up to her, I told her that I am also Vietnamese American, and that it means so much to me and inspires me greatly that she’s out there making music the way she does. I asked for a picture, and then a hug, and she was so nice and said she really appreciated my comments. From then, I realized, the lesson to learn here isn’t that you shouldn’t have heroes, it’s that if your heroes betray you, find new ones. Find better ones. For every Jesse Lacey out there, there’s also a Thao Nguyen, and when you meet that new hero of yours, they’re going to be awesome.

REASONS TO COME EARLY: Half Waif

Nandi Rose Plunkett is often underestimated as merely “the girl in Pinegrove.” Her side project, Half Waif, proves that she is much more. 

Trained in music at Kenyon College, she learned styles ranging from folk to world music to musical theatre. Born to an Indian refugee mother and Irish-American father, she was also inspired by the sounds of her roots, including traditional Indian bhajans and Celtic melodies. She has skilfully infused these inspirations into the unique art pop of Half Waif, seamlessly mixing traditional, contemporary, and experimental sounds. 

In “Severed Logic,” the opening track of her EP form/a, she chants “my mood is a pendulum / I don’t think you can handle it” before the song builds into swirling synths and tropical-sounding drums. “Even wake I dream of you / dream of you / leaving me,” she continues. Her operatic voice pierces over the airy synth, allowing her confessional lyrics to resonate with listeners.   

Such is Half Waif’s music — introspective, raw, and always compelling. While Pinegrove’s alt-country lyrics are inspired by classic literature, Half Waif’s are deeply intimate. Plunkett is a gifted storyteller, poetically recounting her relationship with Pinegrove drummer Zack Levine, her parents’ divorce, and more personal details in each of her songs. 

Reminiscent of Vagabon’s shape-shifting DIY rock, or even Rostam’s bright and cinematic electro-pop, Half Waif has continued to grow and evolve as a project. In a poignant criticism of sexism in the music industry, Punkett wrote, “I want it all, to embody the multitudes of possibility.” In Half Waif, she embraces these multitudes.

-Gabby Brooks 

See Half Waif open for Julien Baker at 9:30 Club on October 17