Zofia Smith once said she wants her music to evoke, “a dissociative or relaxed state. That’s what I want our music to bring to people. I hope people get that sense of ease from the soundscapes.” On their first EP in two years, Chrysalis, the Minneapolis based band she’s green comprised of vocalist Smith, guitarists Liam Armstrong Raines Lucas, bassist Teddy Nordvold, and drummer Kevin Seebeck, have achieved just that.
Chrysalis opens with their lead single, “Graze. ” A fool’s paradise made up of synths, guitars, drums, the usual suspects. But what she’s green does with the ingredients is the highlight, evoking serene hues, pastoral landscapes, and contemplative states that don’t include the morose matters of reality.
But while the raucousness of instruments was front and center on their last EP, Wisteria, a project that solidified their standing as a shoegaze mainstay, the midwestern group saves the chaos for the end, building an organic suspense. Taking the listener on a sojourn through the fields and forest of their songs to find out that you don’t need to be in the “real world” for chaos to still find you.
The lyrics themselves even craft stages of enigmatic reverie, “Laying on fallen leaves / Bury me / Caroline’s on her knees / The fire’s by her side” then delivering the listener to a darkness that can only be designed by one’s on unconsciousness, “Forest lights / Cling to me / Followed by the ghosts that haunt.”
The nature motif has always appeared hand-in-hand with she’s green from their band name to the titles of their albums and names of their songs through their music videos.
One detail that shouldn’t go overlooked is the lack of everyday technology present in their videos. Take the visuals for “Figurines,” as an example. Zofia roams a living space, frames adorn the walls, bookcases and vintage cameras abound, but nary a cell phone, computer, or even a television in sight. Personally, that’s enough of a utopia for me.
But don’t get it twisted, these fragments of natural paradise aren’t just trees and fields and flowers there are also crushes, of course. On “Silhouette,” Zofia sings, ‘Catching feelings/ Distracted by your lovely being/ Folding my heart up/ I’m your paper mache in a matchbox” which begs the question, what is more organic than lust? Exactly, you can’t think of anything.
The EP finishes with “Little Birds,” a soft exploration of the anxiety of gradually losing a grip on a lover’s characteristics after you’ve parted ways. At the end, Smith is able to still hear their voice, perhaps soothed by the notion that the experience was real and she knows because that memory still remains.
Shoegaze is inherently dreamy, but on Chrysalis, she’s green finds an even balance of establishing a world of calm, so when mayhem comes, the listener is prepared to travel through it: ironically, an accurate representation of the real world. With a strong mental foundation we can weather a lot of varying experiences. A nirvana where all the noise in the world quiets and all you see is greens and blues. With Chrysalis, she’s green are able to get comfortable in the quieter moments.
Chrysalis is out now.
Words by Ilana Rubin for Staged Haze
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