Premiere: ØZWALD Takes You To A Special Place With New Track "ivy league"

Q&ASpotlightMusic

May 21

TRANSPORTING YOU TO A DREAM LIKE STATE WHERE ALL YOUR TROUBLES GO AWAY - leave it to ØZWALD to take you on a journey with their latest track “ivy league”. With a love for The Beatles and a desire to create with no limits, musicians Jason Wade and Steve Stout came together to create ØZWALD, allowing themselves to experiment with whatever sound comes their way. The duo has kept up a solid pace and has quickly built up a strong discography the past two years, each track reflecting the artists’ simple love for creating music.

“ivy league” showcases the best of ØZWALD - the sweet song touches on growing up in a small town and being in that point of high school where you are thinking about moving to a bigger city, going to college, moving on from relationships, etc. As Summer comes closer, those in their senior year start to experience that bittersweet moment of something big ending. In “ivy league” you’ll be reminded that although it’s a little sting, good things are ahead and this “growing up” is only going to move you forward to growth. With melodies that sound both comforting and dreamy, “ivy league” is the song to get you through the summer with warmth and excitement.

With a new album young suburban minds on the way, ØZWALD explores the universal themes of all that comes with growing up in a small town, and the desire to escape and explore the world. We are so excited to premiere “ivy league” and get some more insight into the track and upcoming album - read below to learn more and make sure to give “ivy league” for a moment of serendipity.

LUNA: Congrats on the release of “ivy league”! You’ve been putting lots of music out lately which is awesome, how are you feeling about this release?

ØZ: We’re really excited for people to hear ‘ivy league’ - the song started on kalimba which is an interesting place for us as we usually write on guitar or piano. Writing on an instrument we’re not really used to forces us to write different types of melodies.

LUNA: What’s your favorite line(s) from this track?

ØZ: ‘they’re out of your league, they’re covered in ivy’ is definitely our favorite line!

LUNA: I love the artwork as well, really fits the vintage feel of the track as well. What role are you playing in the visual side of your work?

ØZ: So glad you dig the artwork! We’ve been sourcing some images ourselves for the singles and the cover is a photo Steve took in his neighbourhood in Nashville which felt like it summed up the ‘young suburban minds’ vibe really well. Getting super into old point and shoots lately.

LUNA: How would you compare the feel of this single to the overall feel of your upcoming album young suburban minds?

ØZ - ‘ivy league’ feels like if bands still wrote radio singles, what the single would be from this record to us. Really blown out vintage drums like the band Temples and went for as smeary of a 70’s chorus using mellotrons and really thick harmonies was the goal.

LUNA: You explore the theme of growing up in a small town and all that comes with it through these tracks, can you touch a little bit more on those ideas?

ØZ: We wanted to write a record about the super emotional times we all go through in the high school years and when it comes time to move on past how people can go their different ways whether it be in friendships or relationships. It feels like status can be a part of that shift and it’s just a super overwhleming time in life that felt like it had a lot of songs in it.

LUNA: Sonically, what are some of your favorite elements you bring into your music?

ØZ: We play everything on our records and produce them ourselves as well as mixed this entire record (sans stayin’ young was our buddy Max Allyn). I would say that the recording process is one of our favorite parts of making music and we’re always reaching for vintage sounds from bands like the Beatles and Seals & Crofts to have a sense of nostalgia while keeping the mixes sounding relevant to all of the other amazing new indie music that is out there.

LUNA: You’ve put a lot music out the past two years, so how have you seen your sound evolve since your first release as ØZWALD?

ØZ: Our only rule for making music in this band is that their are no rules and we try to just go with what we’re feeling in the moment for any record and not get stuck into any genre. One fun thing we discovered was how cool Open E tuning sounds on guitar for this record and a lot of the songs are in that tuning. Watched a video from Johnny Marr of The Smiths use the tuning and it just sounded so dreamy/surfy and it definitely set the tone for the record.

LUNA: As things start to open up and live music becomes a reality, who would be your dream line up to perform with?

ØZ: We’d love to play with Fruit Bats, Andy Shauf, Wilco, so many amazing bands out there!

LUNA: What do you hope the upcoming months bring you?

ØZ: It’s been a goal of ours to do 2 full length records a year and we’re currently working on our 6th record right now so excited to continue doing so and share it with you and everyone!

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