"kinship crayon" EP
A collaboration between brothers,
Weeze & teasea
kinship crayon, EP
Written by Carolyn Ambrosich (she/they)
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The skies were filled with wildfire smoke as I boarded a train from Baltimore to New York on an early summer afternoon. I found my seat next to an artist with a cat on their lap, and waited for the conductor to scan my ticket. The train lurched forward, and the cat and I made eye contact. I looked away, and down to my phone. There was a notification that read, “new release from teasea and Weeze”. I clicked on it, opening ‘kinship crayon’, and slipped in my headphones.
‘kinship crayon’ is the first official collaborative collection between the brothers. Amongst the lockdown of 2020, the EP began taking shape. It was a pure form of shared effort, with Weeze creating the beats, vocals, and synths, and teasea contributing the guitar melodies, and bass parts. What entices me about these artists is their openness to their environment for inspiration, using samples from everyday noises to create nostalgic, sonar landscapes. As I engage with their music, I can’t help but wonder where all the pieces are from. For example on the opening track, “celerybeet”, I imagine Weeze recording a piece of celery breaking, or maybe a pepper grinder, or deck of cards, to create the beat. On “household”, I hear what could be the shimmering rims of glass cups that capture a sort of airy siphoning sound.
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I continued my ride up the coast, the train rambling swiftly along while slipping into progressively thicker wildfire smoke. The track “breath of” began to play. The title felt ironic, as usually the words “breath of” are followed by “fresh air”. Yet, the air outside was anything but fresh. The song holds a sweetness to it, as it begins with a gently sad guitar melody. Soon a voice is heard saying, “the thing is, if you wanna move forward, you can’t move forward without being vulnerable”. There are voices throughout the EP, each seems to carry a different piece of wisdom. Some of them are only noticed if one is listening intently. This one, however, stood out in its directness, and in its contrast to lessons we often learn from society. I found the juxtaposition of the hazy orange skies, and the invitation to be vulnerable a bit jarring. For it is likely only through the means of being vulnerable we might actually address the heaviness at hand.
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“plz (follow the line)” felt like a response to that heaviness. It breathes and moves, and beeps and clicks. We’re able to pick out sounds like the thub of a heartbeat, and the beep of a heart rate monitor machine. The human and the machine. It feels like the coming together of organic and inorganic. There are held out guitar chords followed by nimble fingers quickly descending down the strings, while a ghastly breeze, or maybe the whirr of a subway passing, spread out in the back. Soon the song comes to a moment of relative simplicity, right before it opens up again to a sound that feels like the meeting of “Modest Mouse” and “The Dodos”. It has a touch of nostalgia, while also being a subtle nod to the future.
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At the end of the record, we find the track “new new york”. It seems to come from a similar vein as “plz (follow the line)”. It is a reckoning of the past, a nod to memories both good and bad, and a look toward the future, however uncertain it often feels. It is also an homage to the city of New York, a recognition of NYC as the confluence of the world.
This track is accompanied by a music video created by Weeze & teasea through Ambient Pasta Productions. It is a collection of snippets of NYC shot on super 8 film. As anyone who has lived in New York can tell you, it’s a city that is full of highs and lows. It is a place that can be inspiring, depressing, overrated, fun, artistic, and everything all at once. It is also home for these brothers, holding the memories that have shaped them. In the video we catch bits of everyday life in the city; black trash bags on the sidewalk, a subway train rolling into the station, a skater trying to land a trick. It is in these small moments that we find a greater sense of nostalgia for the big apple. Even amongst the smoke, it is a city that continues to pulse and change, continually becoming a new, New York.
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Written by Carolyn Ambrosich
(aka Lady Ro)
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You can listen to the whole EP through the links below.
