PREMIERE | Whimsical, "Gravity"
Dream weavers Whimsical, from left; Neil Burkdoll & Krissy Vanderwoude; press photo courtesy of the artists.
Understanding and conveying the experiental endorphins, serotonin surges and barely explicable aspects of ephemeral occurrences is a delicate and refined art and craft. To contain the intangible within the codes of chords, vocal harmonies, production trickery, heart beating rhythms and so on by means of myriad forms of innovation is a time honored tradition that remains strong and steadfast to this very day. A duo that understands a thing or two about making the modern day music box machines to soundtrack your daydreams and vivid vision-laden nocturnes are Northwest, Indiana's Krissy Vanderwoude and Neil Burkdoll of Whimsical. Emerging initially in the late 90s, taking extended breaks, collaborating with like minded guitar-gazers to having recently signed with DIY pop stalwarts Shelflife Records — Whimsical provides an inertia defying taste of their upcoming fourth album with a listen to the exhilaration free fall rush of "Gravity". Arriving June 4 b/w "Float", the duo taps into the canon of wide eyed sneaker-staring styles and the legions of underground scenes that celebrate themselves.
“Gravity” shines with the jagged clean polychromatic laser edge of a compact disc. Whimsical reverse engineers the analogue/digital hybrids found in the obscure, to latter day deified and exalted pale saints of silky streamer noise guitars. Kissy and Neil mine and meld in purposeful synthesis the singles and LPs from the independent undergrounds of influence that indicated where the 80s evolved into the 90s with blueprints for the bands and bedroom pedal pushers of the oughts, the 2010s and onward. The track initially sounds like a lost grungy college rock classic played from a portable transistor radio speaker, before speeding full throttle like a blazing arrow rocketing forward like a shooting star. Whimsical layers valence levels of treated guitars that cater to different components of sensory, defining different velocities of movement and notions of momentum that are brought towards each other in correlation to theory of relativity. The pull of masses and energy in motion sends the conventions of melodic garage noise into turbines of ample and epic possibilities. “Gravity” is exemplary of hyper romanticism cleverly adapted into sections, stages and phases of pure love drunk abandon — blending hooks into a tight mix of dramatic guitars orchestrated and conducted in a concise manner of precision and prestige. Whimsical brings unrelenting manifestations of illustrious dreamscapes of near perfect pop designed for those that remain staunchly against perfection.
Whimsical’s Krissy & Neil shared some thoughts about their new single “Gravity”, their new forthcoming album and more:
Neil Burkdoll
“Gravity” was actually supposed to be on our last album, Bright Smiles & Broken Hearts, but I couldn't find a way to finish it in time. In the end, I ended up erasing everything I had previously recorded and started over again. I had already purchased some new musical gear and felt that it had updated our sound. Although I don't think anyone would notice the influence, my initial idea for the song was to write something with the energy of “The Baby Screams” by The Cure. Of course “Gravity” sounds nothing like “The Baby Screams”, but that was the original inspiration for picking-up my acoustic and starting a new song. The structure is strange, in that it is basically an intro that features live drums by Andy Muntean (our live drummer) and then quickly goes into a verse/chorus/verse/chorus, before heading into a trippy middle section that was inspired by “Champagne Supernova” by Oasis. It then ends with some drones and acoustic guitars. The verse and chorus never come back around again during the last half of the song and that's not normally how we write songs, but sometimes it's fun to let a song go where it wants to go.
Krissy Vanderwoude
In general, as people listen to Whimsical, they will find that the subject matter for my lyrics will almost always tie into some sort of human emotion and none more prevalent than love. I find that to be something that most everyone can relate to, on some level and it makes me happy when people feel that they can connect to my lyrics. I often sing about the wide range of emotions that can come along with love. That may range from the feeling of falling in love, to the happiness that comes along with being in love, to the fear and heartbreak associated with losing love. For “Gravity”, I was listening to the song and coming up with the melody and lyrics while I was out on a walk on a beautiful day. The sky was blue and filled with fluffy clouds and it felt so inspiring to be writing with that around me. I wanted to draw upon that inspiration and use it to influence my lyrics in some way. Being the daydreamer that I am, I started to think about what it is that makes me float like a cloud, shine like the sun, etc and it always comes back to love. I felt like these lyrics were a cute way to paint a picture of how it feels to be swept off your feet by someone, without being too literal.
We are both so excited about the opportunity to release our upcoming new music on Shelflife Records. We have been big fans of this label for many years and it’s truly such an honor to be a part of the family now. We will be releasing a 7” first, which will have the song “Gravity” and another unreleased b-side, “Float”, which we wrote specifically for this. Float will be exclusive to the 7” release and Gravity will be apart of our full length. As those two songs begin making their way out into the world, we will be finishing up the final song(s) for our fourth album, which will be our first full length release on Shelflife Records. Lots more coming soon, so please stay tuned.
Whimsical's "Gravity" b/w "Float" will be available June 4 on 7" and digital via Shelflife Records.
Cover art for Whimsical’s single Gravity.