In 2024, Oakland songwriter Asha Wells released Tears of a Clown, an EP which saw them develop and evolve beyond the sound introduced on debut full-length Water Words, “splitting the difference,” as we wrote, “between pop and folk with avant garde invention.” Now Wells is preparing to release The Lesson, a new three-song release on Anxiety Blanket Records which picks up the threads of its predecessor and continues to develop the Asha Wells sound. Songs cut from a kind of twilit melancholy which blurs the distinction between sadness and dreams.
Wells enlisted a host of talent to help bring the songs to life Jack Brown (Healing Potpourri) adds bass and piano, Zach Elsasser (Affectionately, Jay Som) drums, Lizzy Dutton violin and vocals and Ainsley Wagoner (Silverware) vocals, plus Stephen Steinbrink and Jason Kick (Mild High Club, Healing Potpourri) produced the release. What results is a sound rich and idiosyncratic enough to match Wells’s vision, each track carving out its own small, ethereal world. Take the latest single and title track, ‘The Lesson’. A song of subtle detail and alluring patience which closes out the release with a space of relative calm. Indeed, if predecessor ‘Ophelia’ paints a darker picture, then ‘The Lesson’ serves as the quiet on the other side of the storm. Not a definite safe haven, but a place from which you might catch your breath before pushing towards something better and new.
Steinbrink also features in the track, and his fingerprints are clear in its execution. Writing of his 2023 album Disappearing Coin, we described how the album represented “a wilful attempt to make music with the same creativity and sense of awe-filled wonder that he felt when exploring these other avenues,” leaning heavily on the magic trick imagery of its title to become “a figure who, guided by invention and playfulness, looks to use mastery of a physical craft in order to open the door to small, intangible miracles.” The Lesson is very much informed by the same ideas, with Asha Wells highlighting how thinking outside the box can lead to the more intuitive, authentic expressions of emotion, and collaboration need not preclude a singular style.
The Lesson will be released on the 3oth May via Anxiety Blanket Records and you can pre-order it now.