New Orleans Trio Woozy Premiere “Painted White”

A song about the desire for freedom, structure, and meaningfulness—all at once.

October 08, 2015

New Orleans trio Woozy are releasing their very first full length Blistered next week, on Community Records and Exploding In Sound. "Painted White" is the third single off of their debut, and it's kind of a quirky one, crossing the paths of emo, punk, and pop all in one track. It starts off with fuzzy, feedback-heavy guitar, and Kara Stafford and John St. Cyr's aggressive vocals, but it gets decreasingly combative as the song goes on. The boldness bleeds into a sweet melody that's reminiscent of The Cranberries, one of the bands Woozy cites as an influence.

John St. Cyr told The FADER over e-mail that the song "is a snarky dissection of an artist's lifestyle choices: the desire for freedom from expectation and routine and the fear of having creative vitality suppressed (painted white) opposes the desire for structure and direction and the fear of purposelessness. The song then turns sincere with a real and desperate plea for the wisdom and strength to find something truly meaningful.” The sea change in the track works, and that kind of duality in sound is difficult to pull off. Instead of sounding confused, the song's different parts create a dynamic that reflects the contrast between the wall that goes up as a result of fear and frustration, and the wall that comes down when you reveal vulnerability and earnestness.

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Listen to "Painted White" below, and pre-order Blistered here.

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New Orleans Trio Woozy Premiere “Painted White”