by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
New York's Wooing are a band to watch. Led by Rachel Trachtenburg (model, activist, actress, and of course of once six year old drummer of The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players), it would be easy to write the band of as mere fashionable rock, a group set on trends and destined for popularity. The thing is though, Wooing are a great band, and Trachtenburg's songwriting is both unpredictable and fittingly unique. There's nothing cookie cutter about the trio (rounded out by Rosie Slater and JR Thomason) on their debut Daydream Time Machine, self-released on cassette last summer and reissued earlier this month on vinyl and digitally via Ba Da Bing Records. Over the course of three songs, the band drift in and out of psychedelic visions, piecing together gentle twee pop, cosy folk, driving distortion, and buzzing feedback with open structures.
"In Colour," the EP's lead single is both quaint and explosive, delicate one moment and pummeling the next, an erratic journey revolving around the "wish to talk in technicolor" and the idea of your thoughts having their own feelings. The gorgeous music video, directed by John Zhao, finds a young girl, seeming possessed in some form, brought to join what could be a cult... or possibly just some nice folks living free on the farm. Rituals a performed, things get increasingly tripped out (and a bit haunting), and the girl is reclaimed to the world, though nothing is quite as it was. It's a fantastic visual for the song, embracing both the beauty and distorted reality of Wooing at their best.
Wooing's Daydream Time Machine is out now via Ba Da Bing Records.