Band to Watch: Weaves
Who They Are: A Toronto-based foursome who bend pop tropes as if they’re made of Silly Putty, Weaves’ idiosyncratic songs play with genre and form while vocalist Jasmyn Burke’s precisely calibrated alto (which takes cues from Siouxsie as much as Aaliyah) leads the way.
What They’ve Done: Burke and co-songwriter Morgan Waters have been coming up with Weaves’ twisted tunes for about a year. The process starts on Burke’s phone: “I record stuff on my Voice Memos on my iPhone — I have like 3,000 files,” she says. The pair then convene in Waters’ bedroom studio to “pump them full of insanity,” as he puts it, before adding in the contributions of bassist Zach Bines and drummer Spencer Cole. Songs like the writhing “Take a Dip” and the gorgeous grind “Hulahoop” appeared on the band’s outpost at the digital-music store Bandcamp; Weaves, the band’s first EP, came out last month on Buzz.
What They’re Doing Next: “Officially, we’re always recording — we never really stop,” says Burke. Expect more shape-shifting tracks to be released online as the band spends the summer committing more songs to tape and figuring out what to put on its eventual debut LP. And they’re still firming up plans to come down to the States for a tour, possibly in the fall.
What They Say: “We’re humble, soft-spoken people, Jasmyn and I, so it’s fun to make this music that’s over the top — catchy but, like, twisted,” says Waters. “It’s all guitar-driven pop music, which has been done a million times. We’re just trying to figure out a way to do something differently.” Adds Burke, “We don’t want to necessarily identify with a scene, and I think our music holds true to that — it’s a bit out there, no matter what kind of music you like.”