Premiere: Wyla’s video for ‘Electric Boat’ is a cyclical dreamscape
Wyla’s Edward Madill. // photo courtesy the artist
Wyla’s Bleach Ceviche is out NOW on Indianapolis’ Twisted Twin Sister Tapes. You can order it via Bandcamp.
Seeing Lawrence’s Wyla is a rare opportunity, and one for which you should make the time. Their “fuzzy, droney shoegaze” was born in the mountains of North Carolina before the project’s Edward Madill brought it to the plains when he moved to Lawrence a few years back.
While you can frequently catch Madill as part of Blanky, the music of Wyla is a little harsher and more abrasive than the Anthony Cunard-fronted band’s languid dream-pop. Wyla sounds big, but it is pushed and constrained into a small space until it explodes.
Wyla’s new album, Bleach Ceviche, is out today, and we’re excited to premiere the first video from it, for the album’s final track, “Electric Boat.”
It’s as cyclically fascinating as the song which soundtracks it, and exactly the sort of hypnotic visual you need to relax your way into the weekend.
Check it out below, then read our interview with Wyla mastermind Madill.
The Pitch: I’ve had this album since last February. What made you wait to release this?
Edward Madill: I love sharing my music, unreleased and otherwise, with folks that seem interested. In my older years, I’ve sat on recordings for years, reworking, rerecording, and relistening. In the case of my previous album, Mean, I waited to record until I had a full band formed to ensure the album could be performed live and be true to form.
The whole time leading up to it I was peddling my demos to friends, allowing my bandmates (Matt Kotarba on drums, Ryan Slagle on guitar, Britt Benson-Greer on bass) to write and modify the parts to their specific styles of playing. This was a departure from what had previously been primarily a solo recording project for me. Most of the recordings prior had been me playing layers and layers of guitars, synthesizers, organs, and drums, with the occasional guest feature.
How long was this album in the works before you even recorded?
Bleach Ceviche was in the making since late 2020, after moving to Philadelphia from Asheville, NC. The new isolation of being in a dense urban environment–dirty, ugly, wonderful, and loud–after having spent most of my life in Appalachia caused a serious bout of homesickness and desire to reconnect with my child self: alone in a basement in the middle of nowhere with very little to do other than make music with myself until I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore.
I set about recording and building songs from scraps whenever I was reminded of the claustrophobia and dread of working my dead-end jobs. I had met a few musically-inclined friends through Craigslist and friends-of-friends who would sit down and add tracks to songs that I showed them (CJ Hardin, lead guitar on “Any Other Way”, “Mr. Cold One”, and “Electric Boat” and Ben Roberts, effected saxophone on “Mr. Cold One”).
In the case of my previous album, Mean, I postponed recording until I had a full band formed to ensure the album could be performed live and be true to form. The whole time leading up to it, I was peddling my demos to friends, allowing my bandmates to write and modify the parts to their specific styles of playing. This was a departure from previous Wyla albums, which were primarily a recording project for me.
Bleach Ceviche has been an exercise in returning to my original format of off-the-cuff recordings stitched together like journal entries.
Ed and Anthony, New Jersey 2020. // photo courtesy the artist
How does playing in Blanky affect making music as Wyla and vice versa?
I have always loved the freedom of playing in friends’ bands. I’m a multi-instrumentalist at my core and sometimes get hung-up in lulls of songwriting where I don’t feel very creative. Recording other people’s projects and performing as a member of a band allows me to continue to grow as a listener and songwriter without the pressures of keeping it all together. I just have to show up on time to the practice and show with my skill and do the best job I can do. I played drums for Anthony (Blanky) in his band Superflaw when we lived together in Black Mountain, NC and fell in love with his lyrical style and jumped at the chance to be a part of Blanky.
I originally moved to Lawrence to play secondary guitar, but when the bassist (Atticus von Holten) left for Chicago, I stepped in to fill bass duties. I have always loved duos and power trios, as every member has to really show up, and I like the high pressure and the feeling when everyone is in sync. All of Blanky’s members are songwriters in their own right (our drummer, Jacob Eckhart, records as Jacob E. Chord) and bring that sensibility and understanding to the table when we are writing our backing parts for Anthony. I have pushed Anthony towards some of the dronier stylings, and he has continued to push me lyrically.
When I moved to Lawrence, Anthony encouraged me to start performing as Wyla again, knowing it would help me navigate the emotions of a major life change and a big breakup. Without him, I don’t know if you would have had the chance to see Wyla in Kansas. Even so, I don’t foresee us playing nearly as often as I did in my early 20s, when I could live off tallboys and cigarettes and five hours’ sleep, living in an old run-down ’70s ranch with 6 of my closest friends and living what I thought was the most perfect life imaginable.
Philly studio during making of Bleach Ceviche, 2021. // photo courtesy the artist
Where did you record the album and with whom, as well as what was the band lineup?
The album was recorded by me in a dirt-floor basement in my house in South Philly. I recorded all of the backing tracks for the songs and had my friends CJ Hardin and Ben Roberts make guest appearances with guitar and saxophone, respectively.
Where do you see Wyla going this year–tour plans and so forth?
This is my first release in six years, and I’m hoping to see some renewed interest in my music by my fan base, which at this point is spread out all over the East Coast and the Midwest. I would like to do some more Lawrence shows and, if fate will have it, bring together some of my favorite collaborators and bandmates from across the US to form a truly fleshed-out all-star band. Here’s hoping. Thanks for listening to the lullabies I’ve written for myself; I’m so happy I finally get to share them with the world.
Wyla’s Bleach Ceviche is out NOW on Indianapolis’ Twisted Twin Sister Tapes. You can order it via Bandcamp.
