Ian Wayne is the Brooklyn-based recording project of the eponymous Wayne (songs, vocals, guitar) along with Keith J. Nelson (keys, vocals), Andrew Stocker (bass), Dan Knishkowy (drums) and Jack McNutt (lead guitar). This autumn sees the release of A Place Where Nothing Matters, a record which highlights Wayne’s distinctive and precarious balance beam act along the thin line between sincerity and sarcasm—a style unafraid of illuminating the ridiculous banalities of life without losing all sense of fun or hope.
As such, those who appreciate the sardonic pop of CHUCK and Frog will find a new hero in Ian Wayne. Lead single ‘Revelation’ serves as the perfect example of his style, with PopMatters describing the sound as existing “somewhere sonically between the driving force of indie rock, low-key folk, and ruminative jazz,” and the tone that of wry wit, a vibe that extends beyond the music and into the track’s video.
Today we are lucky enough to be able to share a new single from the record. ‘Guessing’ flickers to life from probing guitars, its half-paced beat lending a sentimental air of bittersweet melancholy, though the track does not stay settled within this groove. Rather, the midway point sees the song climb to new heights, propelled by marching drums and a cacophonous energy, leaving Wayne to wail with abandon before eventually descending the other side of the peak and back to the original languorous flow.
The result is a song that feels governed by its own forces, left to accelerate and pull back as it sees fit, and the spirit of spontaneity and experimentation informs the basis of the track. As Wayne explains:
[‘Guessing’ is] about trying hard to find your voice, in particular by thinking about why you love the music you love. It’s also about friendship and the camaraderie of loving and sharing music with friends. The idea is that we can scrutinize records to figure out how to write a good song and dedicate ourselves to music-making in any number of ways, but ultimately we’re just guessing when it comes to songwriting. To me that’s a humbling, peaceful thought – that you never really know if the songs are going to work.
Photo by Julian Master, album art by Ian Wayne (with help from Adam Sultanov)