By Keith Walsh
Chaos Mesa, the debut album by Woves (on Retro Reverb Records) is a ten-track set of stunning, downbeat-leaning synth pop with a dark, psychological edge. The contemporary sounding tunes, created on the enviable analog synth collection of Josh Ricchio, are an ideal match for Emily Zuzik’s soulful vocals and intelligent lyrics. Songs like “Upside Down,” “Release,” and “1 am” are radio-ready, with masterful production, and top notch, story-based songwriting. (Ricchio also contributes lyrics).

The self-awareness of Zuzik’s lyrics come from lots of practice looking at the world and writing about it.” I’ve written short stories,” she said. “I’ve always been a writer. I used to be a very avid journalist — like journal person who keeps journals, but I also worked as a journalist. I’ve done a lot of writing.”

Zuzik elaborates: “I also like to write from where I’m at. And you know, I don’t have a lot of drama these days, but a lot of the stuff that I struggle with as a person is a lot more cerebral and a lot more (about) setting boundaries. And ‘where do you want to be and who are you, are you a product of all of your experiences?’ And to me that’s more interesting stuff, but it’s just, it’s not as concrete, you know, sometimes I’m like, okay, I gotta make this more accessible.”  Zuzik studied Radio, Film and Television production in college, with a dual minors in Business and English Textual Studies.

You once said that you were naked in a city where they worship what you wear/And all your memories are fading as you watch them disappear into thin air/Give it time, give it time, give it time, boy
Give it time to leave it all behind/
Give it time to let your spirits rise.
(From “Release” on Chaos Mesa)

Zuzik found her voice early, thanks to a religious upbringing. “I’ve been singing since I was a child,” she said. “1 got a big dollop of natural ability. So I sang in church every week and then I eventually went on to be in choir and lead a folk mass. I’ve been, you know, singing with people and bands, and wedding bands and recording four track albums on cassettes that I was making as early as high school and college. So I’ve just been singing a very long time.”

Zuzik also performs as a singer-songwriter around Los Angeles, and recent studio collaborations include “Fire & Ice” with Betamax Dub Machine and “Lucid,” with Enchanted Kids. Her single “Trouble” was featured on an episode of show “Roswell, NM” on the CW Network last July.

The Indefinable Quality Of Analog
The sounds on Chaos Mesa reflect current trends in popular electronic music without mimicking them, and that’s down not only to the power of Zuzik’s voice, but also to the savvy foundations laid down by Ricchio, who grew up to Philadelphia but relocated to pursue his dream of studying music in college.  “I went for song writing and composition — and music business. That was back in 99…in Minneapolis, called Music Tech. (At the time) it was basically the only music school in the country that was offering song writing programs and music business and all that stuff. It was kind of new….So I moved from Philly to there and yeah, that’s kind of where I got my base started.”

There’s a certain indefinable quality to sounds created by analog synths that digital virtual synths may never match. The sound of Chaos Mesa certainly benefits from the group’s affection for some very special analog gear. Ricchio explained how he was inspired by his gear from the first recordings: “They were pretty much written with the Korg Monologue. And let’s see. I’ve got the Moog Matriarch, and the Morphagene (from Make Noise).” To add a bit of analogue edge to the synths, Riccho uses a Plasma Coil Drive from Game Changer Audio, and records using Ableton on an Apple Computer.

Now both located in Los Angeles, Zuzik and Ricchio both relocated from New York, where by remarkable coincidence, they once lived in the same apartment building in Brooklyn at the same time without meeting each other until they met in LA in the early ‘10s. As they recall, the first music they worked on together to license to visual media, was not purely electronic. “It was electronic,” said Zuzik, “but it I may have been a bit more hybrid, would you would you say that’s true? Josh?” “Electronic, again more a little more poppy,” said Ricchio. “I guess we’re a little more like more guitars, and less than more synth-y.”

Getting The Balance Right
Ricchio, who heads up Sing Engine Records as a side project, recalls the origins of Woves. “Basically, I’ve been writing and recording with Emily since I moved out to LA about nine years ago, and a couple of years ago were on and off. We’d write tunes for a listing for movie or TV or something. I was like, ‘hey, let’s see — I got a couple of tracks that are kind of like, electronic, synth-y. Let’s do something with it.’ So they turned out pretty well. I actually don’t even remember what the first couple tracks were. Emily had a friend from college who already had a label producing like Broadway, musical shows. And he wanted to start his own thing. His favorite band of all time is Depeche Mode. So we kind of wanted to go do it like a Depeche Mode thing. So I was like ‘yeah, give me a part of it.’ So, you know it kind of took off there.”

The third member of Woves is Kolby Wade, who contributes tracks using an Arturia Brute and the Moog DFAM (Drummer From Another Mother.) For recent stuff Ricchio has been doing the drums, as Wade is located in Northern California. “I’ve pretty much kind of taken over — Kolby’s doing something else. So, yeah, but same thing, I mean, I got a Drum Brute too. So I’ve been going crazy, just throwing it through effects pedals –Distortion, and some Reverb, it sounds awesome.”

Woves On Bandcamp
Woves On YouTube
Emily Zuzik .com
Retro Reverb Records
Sing Engine Records

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