Iain Henderson aka ‘Wood Ewe’ based in Manchester has released new single ‘Commuter’. The single explores the ‘’the neuroses of the daily grind’’ and was written whilst Henderson was travelling on the bus for UV treatment for eczema, he described the single as being ‘’born from those little irritations of getting up to go every day, and how all that mundanity starts to become surreal overtime’’. ‘The single steadily becomes dreamier and more surreal as the song progresses. As a listener, I became lost in the song , Henderson weaves his sense of humour into his music and lines such as ‘’ You trip over where the pavement ends, Oh boy I wish I could throttle my legs’’ kept me engaged as they are all too real experiences of the ‘’daily grind’’ we all deal with on a day to day basis.

‘Commuter’ was written before Henderson’s ‘U-209’ and described the writing process as ‘’the first time I leaned into my sense of humour lyrically’’. This ‘’sarcastic and the severe’’ humour is prominent in Wood Ewe’s top Spotify track ‘U-209’. The song is about the conspiracy theory regarding Nazi Germany and a submarine that was sent to antarctica to find the hollow earth in WW2. The song is heavy and slow; the sonar sounding beats in the background create a strange, eerie and ominous atmosphere which is complemented by the opening line of the track, ‘’The countries getting desperate and were running out of time’’. Despite this, like ‘Commuter’ , Henderson weaves his signature humour into the song; In my interview, Henderson described the track as ‘’a parody of the conspiratorial thinking that was so common around corona’’.

Wood ewe has been influenced by artists such as The Animal Collective, Radiohead, Devendra Banhart and Elliot Smith, he is a DIY songwriter and producer and has described the writing process for ‘Commuter’ as him ‘’just bashing that rhythm out on a sample pad with some drum sounds’’ he continued, ‘’It was fun exercise in not worrying about fitting stylistically with my other tracks’’. This experimentation has lead to the production of his unique and standout singles.

‘Commuter’ has a complex yet catchy chorus and humorous verses that make the listener take a step back and appreciate the little things in their daily routine that ordinarily they would not appreciate whereas ‘U-209’ seems to explore the peculiar conspiracy theories and desperation that surrounded the Corona virus at the start of the UK lockdown.

Wood Ewe’s singles can be found here:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/2plETfTZVI68s7Fls2lQco

https://woodewe.bandcamp.com/track/commuter

https://woodewe.bandcamp.com/track/u-209

And his social media can be found here:

https://www.facebook.com/woodewemusic/

https://twitter.com/woodewemusic

https://www.instagram.com/woodewemusic/

Article by Amos Brooks