Living in-between: Brooklyn based duo Water From Your Eyes on their influences, new music, and gender identity

Arts

Nov 4

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Lots of music traffics in being sad, but rarely does it sound as unique as the tunes from Water From Your Eyes. The Brooklyn based duo of Nate Amos (he/him) from the band This is Lorelei and Rachel Brown (they/them) from Thanks For Coming have been making music for a few years now. Their new album Somebody Else’s Song has everything from heartfelt twee, to driving dance tracks, to a wordless acapella song. They last anywhere from 1-10 mins long, and are built from skeletal loops that the Nate plays live with help of bassist/keyboardist Michael Kolb (he/him) while Rachel sings. The overall mood is melancholy, hence the band name’s reference to tears.

Unlike many “experimental” projects, the weirdness of Water From Your Eyes doesn’t feel artful or contrived. A former romantic couple, their intimacy makes the pair easy collaborators unafraid to share weird ideas. The pair have a half abandoned concept album that’s a slash fiction narrative between characters of Criminal Minds and Star Trek. Much of their work has resulted from casual collaboration, following through on jokey ideas to arrive at something more profound.

The group found their footing at the DIY venue The Glove, known for its unbridled creativity. Now no longer operational, it was a place where a band like WFYE was among the more conventional acts, despite Rachel wailing on the a kazoo during their song “All A Dance.” The pair come across as the chill stoners in the back of film class, always ready with a self-deprecating laugh and an offbeat reference.

We sat down one rainy Wednesday night at the cafe/bar/art space Flowers for All Ocassions to discuss thier new album, unconventional stage presence, and being queer in 2019.

The lyric “When I wake up, I am running, and my laces come undone.” pops up on the track “Somebody Else's Song” and on “bad in the sun”. Can you talk about that lyric?

What are you running to or from in the song?

Nate: Nowhere *laughs*That song is a combination of a couple like dream impressions, like an anxiety dream. I think about that like you’re in a desert somewhere running on this highway with no one around and you’re fucking tired and your shoes keep coming untied and eventually you get to where you are going.

Rachel: Whenever I sing it I think of a city *laughs* and I run down into a subway station, or usually it’s a train station from a Studio Ghibli film.

Like the Spirited Away train station?

Rachel: Yeah like that mixed with the train station from Grave of the Fireflies, so that’s interesting that you think it’s (in) a desert.

Nate: Well not a desert more like a canyon, somewhere with tall walls.

I think I read somewhere that wfyr started as a joke band?

Rachel: What happened was that summer 2016 Nate shows me New Order for the first time. I’ve heard New Order but I never knew it was New Order and I was enamored. I was like, “Why don’t we make a band that sounds like this?” and then he had a song in two days.

They were all songs from the viewpoints of animals, like different experiences animals would have.

Nate: Different sad animal situations

Rachel: Pretty much, so we made that album for fun. It wasn’t a joke, we were very serious. *laughs* Very serious about sounding like New Order. We both write very personal music so this was not a personal album or songs about us per se. They were songs about feelings anyone could feel, sadness, sad dance music. *laughs*

Nate: I think this album is the first album that is confessional. This is the first WFYE album that feels very personal.

I wanted to talk about your stage presence.

*both Nate and Rachel laugh*

I think the show at The Broadway was the first time I’d seen y’all on a stage. Normally y’all are on the ground.

Rachel: On the floor of The Glove? Yeah exactly.

Nate: Why weren’t we on the ground? Usually we do that.

Rachel: I like playing on the ground. I think it’s fun. I have no problem playing on the ground.

What do you enjoy about the ground?

Rachel: I try and forget there are a bunch of people (watching us play). If we’re not on a stage It’s like alright we’re all just in the room together. We’re all just here, hanging out. I’m singing but it’s fine, it’s like a dance party ... in my head. *laughs*

Nate: It feels more personal for sure.

Rachel, Is that where your habit of wearing sunglasses onstage came from, to forget you’re performing?

Rachel: Yea. I wore them for the first show and I was so nervous the first time we performed. I performed as Thanks For Coming but I stare on my hand on the guitar and don’t lookup. (with this band) I couldn’t stare at the microphone. *laughs* There was nothing to stare at and I was like “oh they can see my eyes, they might know where I’m looking! That’s terrifying. And then I might make eye contact and that’s distracting, like should I say something? I can’t cuz I’m singing.

I love that in the video for Adeline you kept the sunglasses on. How did that video come about?

Rachel: I love Abbie’s work. What happened is that they were asked to use a song of ours for their reel to send to animation studios, and I was like “yeah! Would it be possible if you made a video for us” and she was like for sure.

I like letting people do their thing with videos. I’ll have some opinions but for the most part I’m like thank you so much!

Does this album seem like a very natural progression for y’all?

Nate: Everything up to this point has been exploring different styles and figuring out what we want to do. Through that process, all the different albums have been character pieces in a way. Long Days No Dreams was just like POP pop, and there are two kinda crazy eps that have a very definitive sound.

Rachel: Like a 90s indie rock album. *laughs* The first Water From Your Eyes just sounds like New Order.

Nate: This one about to come out actually covers all those different things. So it feels like the first fully incubated album, and the other ones were just messing around practicing to make this one.

Y’all are pretty low-key about your status as a band with queer members in it. Rachel , do you find most of the people you play within the BK music scene are queer in someway, or do you find you’re the only queer person in a lot of the spaces you’re in?

Rachel: Playing in New York I don’t feel like the only queer person. Most places here, I feel lucky that I don’t feel like that. Gender is a very personal thing to me. It differs for everyone how they feel about it but for me I feel like I don’t identify as a woman or a man and I don’t really identify with any gender. It doesn’t really….

Gender/queerness is not something you think about all the time?

Rachel: I’ll think about it but by myself when I’m having an identity crisis in my bed. *laughs*

It’s just me! I don’t really feel attached to… anything. *laughs* Oh god...

It’s a deeper thing.

Rachel: I’m biracial as well and I just feel very in-between in terms of gender, I just feel like a very in-between person. It’s just who I am. I still have questions but they’re for me.

It’s nice to be in a place where it doesn’t feel like I’m alone it that. I do have conversations with other people who are non-binary and other queer people and what it means to be queer, especially in this day and ages.

Especially in the indie rock scene too where there are so many queer-seeming people that are heterosexual and cisgender.

Yeah, I don’t know. I’m not gonna question someone’s attachment to the queer identity. I don’t even really correct people on my pronouns anymore. It takes a lot of time to explain to people who don’t know and most of the time that’s not how I want to spend my time.

It’s not worth wasting your time on those people

Exactly! I know there are people who will understand and I’ll take the time to tell them about it but some people it’s gonna go right over their heads and what does it matter? I’ll respond to any name *laughs* if someone seems like they’re trying to talk to me I’ll be like what’s up?

Trans women and men get physically assaulted and face violence that I don’t. I don’t feel the need to talk about it (pronouns) when there are so many other queer issues to talk about besides my identity.

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Mo Wilson is a writer and sometimes DJ living in Brooklyn. He also throws indie rock/punk shows with the booking collective Booked By Grandma and loves plastic jewelry. You can find him on Twitter @sadgayfriendx and Instagram at @djgaypanic