From the very moment the percussive interplay on this song begins, this feels like being drawn back to some half-imagined, fading American dream.
Holy Matter is the title under which musician, filmmaker and arch experimentalist Leanna Kaiser records, and Wishing Well is a suitably nostalgic, dreamy psyche-pop experiment. That rhythm, played in part on a rescued 1960s Maestro Rhythm Jester drum machine, adds a surreal, almost sleazy ambience to proceedings; it makes sense when listening to this that Kaiser imagined this song playing in ‘a dingy room over some crappy 70s restaurant speakers.’ There is a sort of faded sadness to the kaleidoscopic, narcotic haze that permeates- that Farfisa adding further to the feeling of sun-dappled humidity, ensnared as it is by that serpentine bass that drives the song forward. It makes perfect sense that L.A was the place from which this song came to life. But this isn’t all queasy, corrupted glamour – there is a real sense of beauty here too; vocally in particular Leanna Kaiser builds trance-like layers of harmony that do indeed feel like a holy matter.
There is an almost metaphysical clarity to this song’s conception, and the ‘burnt orange tropicalia vibe’ that Laiser sought when crafting this recording has most certainly been achieved. It makes sense that she would describe this idea in visual terms; through a film-maker’s lens, she has crafted in this song an image-rich collage of sounds that really does paint pictures in the mind. At first lyrically ambiguous, it centres around the decision to walk away from someone despite a growing attraction. As Kaiser describes, “…when you can see so many reasons that someone is right for you, but you also know they’re on another planet so you just have to walk away with a sigh.” What does feel right though, is the way this song seems to shimmer in front of you – a heat-haze turned into song.
Released on the 7th June and accompanied by a suitably hallucinogenic, dream-evoking music video, this Wishing Well is well worth visiting, again and again and again. It won’t be a wasted wish.
Written by M.A Welsh (Misophone)