“Novelty” feels like it was plucked from the past. It has a sepia tone over the flowing, expressive lyrics and dream pop atmosphere. It’s like a few dusty photographs in the attic, depicting the past of a relationship that just didn’t happen. Erika Wester explores these ideas inside this West Coast, dreamy style.
The song opens with a wonderful flourish and establishes all the instruments at the fore. Soft, plinky, percussion resides underneath a steady bassline. Guiding the vocals are smooth synths that give the piece an older feel. The soundscape is simple but effective. There’s no great jumps or peaks or breaks, it’s all a silky, simple, experience. Occasionally the percussion yields to Erika’s voice, which haunts over the entire piece. It’s a nostalgic sound from her, like the voice over of a movie. Her voice has this clean, floaty tone to it that is highlighted in the chorus. Calling out, saying “So let me go–” over the rolling waves of synths. Erika glides over her instrumentation, singing about a relationship that the speaker feels trapped in. Describing the other half as “messing up my world again / the novelty of addiction”. Though the speaker says that she can’t say no, the way the entire piece sounds like it’s in past tense makes me think she did say no. The choice of instruments, and the shoegaze inspirations in the mix gives the feeling of nostalgia, and time passed. This is a song from today, remembering a time from years ago.
Novelty is a beautiful, smooth, dream pop track that uses the trappings of the genre to give this story of young love that was toxic. It is closure for everyone that stumbled in love, and felt trapped or smothered. Erika Wester did well to capture this in the easy-to-listen, dreamy pop style that perfectly places “Novelty” in the past–and that’s a good thing.
What do you think the next steps are for you after “Novelty”?
I have a few more singles I’m releasing this year, and I hope with COVID permitting, I can get back on track with playing shows. Got a lot of new stuff to put out there that I’m really excited about.
What are the biggest difficulties in composing your tracks?
Everything I write is originally just written on acoustic guitar, so bringing all of the other elements to the song can be tricky. Luckily I have some pretty incredibly friends help me get the tracks to where I want them to be. I still feel pretty new to the entire process, but everyday I’m learning more and more.
Where do most of your inspirations come from for your music?
I just write about personal experiences and things from the heart. Like feeling lost, confused, lonely, heartbreak, questioning things, and good things too! But writing music is super healing for me. Even when lyrics of songs are super sad, I find comfort in them because I realize it’s a collective feeling. And so music has always made me feel less alone. I guess that’s what I hope my songs can do for other people too.
Do you think that the indie music scene is moving towards or away from music like yours? Is this something that worries you?
Maybe I’m not up to date on the latest trends but I think indie music is always super fluid. I don’t feel like it’s moving away from what I’m doing but I’m also not worried about it. I just want my music to resonate with people at the end of the day.
Has songwriting changed how you view things, especially given the nature of your songs like “Novelty”?
Yeah for sure. When someone tells me that they really connected to the lyrics, I’m always blown away. It means the world to me. There’s a huge comfort in realizing we all have shared experiences and feelings. It’s just a constant reminder that we’re not all that different, and everyone at the end of the day just wants to feel connected and understood.
