Boy Willows Shares “Yello House” From ‘BANGS’ EP (Out September 17)
August 4, 2021 BY Nettwerk
Meet Landon Fleischman, the Los Angeles-via-Maryland musician who records as Boy Willows. Like Arthur Russell refracted through the lens of Gen Z, Boy Willows’ music tells a story of unbridled, modernist creativity. The upcoming EP BANGS (out September 17 via Nettwerk Records) is a delicate example of Fleischman’s aptitude for worldbuilding. The vocalist, songwriter, producer, and multi-creative makes music that is spacious and special; his songs, while about specific experiences and moments, also capture those unique, diaphanous moments that seem to only exist in memory: the feeling of the sun filtering through threadbare curtains, or club lights captured from behind the eyelids.
It should come as no surprise that Fleischman knows, intimately, the language of light and shade. Not only a defining fact of his music, this talent for sculpting light particles is also his vocation: for years, in addition to his music practice, Fleischman has been working as a lighting designer for other artists (Wallows, Alan Walker, Mustard), helping them achieve the kind of gossamer atmos that comes so naturally to him. You can hear this sense of craft creeping in on the EP.
Speaking about the EP, Landon says: “I came up with ‘BANGS’ while VJing on a tour that had me traveling to places I’d never been but feeling completely raw and emotionally unsafe to the world around me. Burnt out at the end of a tour, I looked out the car window with my hair over my eyes and liked that the world looked softer through it. Having that layer between me and the world made me feel safer and protected. Hopefully, this ep allows others to feel that same sense of comfort.”
Last year, Landon released “Fila” (feat. Dylan Minnette of Wallows) and “I Love It When You Talk.” Earlier this year, Landon returned with two singles – “No Contest,” a “low-key vibe of R&B with hazy sun-lit pop melodies,” [Under The Radar] and “Tuff,” an ironic take on the perception of self when faced with the challenges of reality. Out today, Landon shares “Yello House,” a lo-fi pop track defined by warm, warping guitars, hushed-but-brilliant hooks, and dazzling instrumental passages. Lyrically, the track is about nostalgia and memories. Landon was inspired to write the track around his parents moving out of his childhood home, saying, “where that leaves me, and those memories and what it means to no longer have that physical space I associate with a version of myself that I loved. But also, genuinely hoping that they can find happiness in a new chapter.“
Self-directed, the official music video captures that journey between the old and new. Speaking to CLASH about the video, Landon says, “it’s a journey of finding the next place I’ll call home. When I’m at my most vulnerable and present, it’s close by, but I can’t see it. It’s a bit of a hopeful prediction. Searching through suburbia for what’s next for my parents and, by extension, me.“
“Yello House” is available at all digital retailers; click HERE: https://boywillows.ffm.to/yellohouse.
