Fatherhood, funky bass line, and the future; artist Still Woozy sat down and chatted about it all.
One of the most musically-unique and creative songwriters in the indie scene, Sven Gamsky, known as Still Woozy, continues to make thoughtful and psychedelic tunes with his sophomore album, Loveseat.
In an online press conference hosted by 1824, Still Woozy answered questions about his new album, his inspirations for his work, and the influence of new fatherhood on this album and beyond. When talking about inspirations for Loveseat’s sound, Gamsky said, “I think there’s a lot of older music that inspired me for this. A lot of the Beatles but then some Marvin Gaye…Tame Impala as well with the synth texture that I can’t get enough of.”
“I can’t sit down and make a whole record of one thing. There’s too many things I want to experiment with.” Gamsky added, “No one is ever just one thing…I always wanna grow. I always want to change; I don’t want to be the same. I think that it’s not exciting and what’s the point in doing this if I’m gonna make the same song a hundred times?”
Woozy also addressed questions about similarities and differences between his last album If This Isn’t Nice, I Don’t Know What Is and newly-released Loveseat.
“For the last album, there were a lot of songs I made that were more about how the song felt. This time, I wanted to still have the vibe, but experiment with storytelling more. I find it so captivating when someone can take you on the journey of the song lyrically and sonically.”
“There are some songs that I think are more reminiscent of the first album but I made a conscious effort for it not to be only that. I want to introduce new sounds so it’s not a shock when I start putting stuff out that’s pushing things sonically. I know I probably have a ‘style’, so there’s an element of some familiarity I can’t get away from and I’m not really mad at that.”
In terms of future directions for work and potentially another album on the horizon, Woozy compared albums to singles: “Putting out a record is kind of nice because you can find a home for all these songs that maybe wouldn’t do as well as singles. Rid Of Me found its perfect place at the end of the album. It might have a harder time living on its own without any context. I think I will probably go back to releasing singles for a bit because it’s fun and less commitment like a full album.”
As a new dad, parenthood influences everything, even album production. “I knew that I had a limited amount of time before the baby came to finish the album, so that really made me get my shit together. Having the deadline was actually really helpful,” Gamsky commented.
While Still Woozy is currently on tour throughout the season and into fall, he was asked what an ideal “Still Woozy Summer” looked like. “The Columbia River goes right through Portland and it has these amazing beaches. Going to the beach and being on the beach all day. I don’t really relax that much; I have a baby. It’s also being with my baby as much as I can because that is like heaven for me. That’s a pretty exciting summer. And drinking watermelon juice.”
If you haven’t already, tickets are still available for most shows on the Loveseat Tour. A “casual guy”, Still Woozy will have you groovin’ along and having fun.
Review by Julia Bissessar
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