Cincinnati’s Yoni Wolf has teamed up with Lillie West’s acclaimed Indie Pop project Lala Lala (which opened for Wolf's claimed Art Pop band WHY? at the Woodward Theater last summer) for a new single. The gauzy, hypnotic track “Siren 042” comes out Jan. 11 as a joint release between the Hardly Art (Lala Lala's label home) and Joyful Noise (home to WHY?'s recent albums) labels.
Today (Jan. 10), the song was unveiled via a new music video that was filmed in Cincinnati and directed by Wolf’s frequent collaborator Scott Fredette. Fredette is a veteran local video artist who has done extensive commercial video work, as well as music videos for artists like WHY?
and The Greenhornes. Fredette is also a member of Indie Pop group Culture Queer and is currently working on a new Art Pop project called Aluminum Arteries (check out a recent video from AA here).
Wolf and Fredette also collaborated on the great pilot for a proposed travel video series called The Wandering Wolf that was shot in Cincinnati.
The “Siren 042” video — which premiered today at The Fader — was shot in Over-the-Rhine, around the Suspension Bridge and in other locations in Greater Cincinnati. See which locales you can identify below.
Here are a couple of quotes about the collaboration from Wolf and West from a press release announcing the project:
Lillie West: "Yoni once talked me down when we were on the the strongest LSD of my life and I claimed to be ‘drowning in a river of sadness.’ I text him when I'm sick. Is he my life coach? Seems that way. I am a WHY? super fan and making this song was a dream come true. I hope to trick him into letting me into his home and more collaboration soon.”
Yoni Wolf: "From the golden olden days when Lillie used to sneak backstage at WHY? shows to drink up the whole rider and taint the water supply while the band was on stage, I never would have guessed I would end up such close friends with the Lala Lala songwriter. But fate has a strange way of contorting space, time, and our better judgements. I’d say we started to get close when we sat down for my podcast and talked it all out. I feel confused. I just adore her.”
