We sat down with Waltzerr after the release of her stellar new EP 'Small Talk', to discuss what influences shaped their unique sound. Be sure to check out the album at the bottom and follow them on socials!
Thirteen - Big Star
My parents listened to 70s music growing up and pretty much nothing else. When I finally had access to streaming; Thirteen was the first one I had found on my own and could really relate to as a kid. I instantly fell in love and begged my parents to get me a guitar for Christmas. The whole song is simple and innocent - and as I’ve listened to it throughout the years, and have gotten older, it takes on an entire different meaning. Big Star solidified my love for power pop and I feel like it shows in a lot of our songs.
All I Need - Radiohead
I listened to a lot of Radiohead while recording this EP. There was one song, Eden, that just seemed so hard to complete. The intro was so simple, and the whole song is pretty much one chord variation until the bridge, so we added a lot of ambient noise in the intro to make it more interesting. All I Need was a huge inspiration for a lot of the final edits we made. It’s really hard to choose a favorite from their discography, but All I Need might be it. The lyrics are so simple and minimal, yet perfectly describe the feeling of longing desperation. When the piano comes in at the end and everything just swells till it’s just a wall of sound— it is exactly what I look for in a song to keep me coming back.
Y Control - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
My buddy Matt from middle school showed me this song and the coolest music like TV on the Radio, Pedro the Lion, etc. To say that he had an influence on my music taste would be an understatement - before I met Matt my favorite bands were Fall Out Boy and Weezer. Really nothing else at the time sounded like Yeah Yeah Yeahs and to this day I still think nothing comes close to their album Fever to Tell. I’ve been spending a lot of time lately revisiting their discography and this one’s still a personal fave. The guitar work from Nick Zinner is unmatched. He’s a pro at making simple but interesting instrumentation (the tremolo picking on the verse!) which is something I try to bring for our own songs.
Last year I read this book called Meet Me in the Bathroom that’s an oral history of the New York City indie rock scene of the early 2000s, which I have a habit of romanticizing. If I had a time machine that’s where and when I’d want to be.
Your Ex-Lover is Dead - Stars
I love a song that makes you feel like you’re in a movie (preferably a romance) and this has that feeling in spades. It’s so dramatic - from the opening monologue, “when there’s nothing left to burn you have to set yourself on fire” to the strings and horns. Add in the music video that’s reminiscent of the best movie ever, Eternal Sunshine, and you’ve got a masterpiece.
I imagine that the song comes off as cheesy and melodramatic to some but it’s performed with such earnestness that it's endearing to me.
When the Sun Hits - Slowdive
Some of my most cherished memories are of listening to a song at a time and place where it feels like the world stopped moving and everything important is happening right then and there. Shoutout to Lauren for listening to Slowdive with me on her birthday and expanding my world with Pity Sex, Whirr, and A Sunny Day in Glasgow.
This song is so textually rich, it’s hard not to get lost in it all.
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