NYC Scene Report – America Jayne, VHS Collection, & Wilmah

This week’s NYC Scene Report features America Jayne finding limited benefits in a friends-with-benefits relationship, VHS Collection diving into “The Deep End,” and Wilmah smashing the rose colored glasses we sometimes use to view the past.

* America Jayne has become the person I bump into most often when I’m in the city. Since the reopening of music venues we seem to run into each other every other week. What’s cool about it is I know after she blows up I’ll be able to tell people, “Oh yeah, I know America Jayne, we used to see each other all the time!”

The NYC-based indie-rocker’s latest single is “Souvenirs,” which she explained in a statement, saying, “‘Souvenirs’ is an unabashed, fuck being friends with benefits, anthem. This song is the anger phase of the five phases of grief. The song was born from a time where I struggled to find the boundaries between friendship, emotional relationships, and sex. Whenever you mix those three things, disaster is bound to happen, and this explores the uncomfortable in-between.”

I gotta say, getting uncomfortable never sounded so good!

* VHS Collection has become a bit of a favorite around here, and come next year they’re going to release a full length album titled Night Drive. The latest single off the album is the synth-pop-rock gem “The Deep End.”

Discussing the song in a statement, the band said, “‘The Deep End’ was written on one of our last trips to L.A. before travel stopped. It was written pretty organically, one part flowing into the next. We really fell in love with the pre-chorus drop as soon as we came up with it, and wanted to build around it. The verse is shouty and sparse, describing someone who’s angry/confused with their way in the world, searching for meaning, or something better. The pre (chorus) is a groove, hopeful, yet with a twinge of darkness. It moves you along. The post-chorus/outro we went full sail on, maybe too much – celebratory, and complete in the range of emotions. We didn’t hold back. It’s a track about finding where you fit, and searching for comfort and companionship in trickier times.”

I’ll tell you one thing, VHS Collection songs fit in with any playlist I’m making.

* We all tend to romanticize the past, and that’s the subject of NYC-based alt-pop band Wilmah’s latest single, “Television.”

The video for “Television” is a super fun clip featuring Wilmah parodying classic sitcoms like Friends, Seinfeld, and That ‘70s Show, as well as the movie Wayne’s World.

So yes, as the lyrics state, our memories love to lie like television, but this is one video you’ll want to see in syndication.

For more of the best of NYC’s indie music scene, come back next Wednesday, and check out the archives for previous columns.

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