We had to do our bit to make sure this didn’t get lost in the New Music Friday shuffle – it’s the new album from Kentucky’s Jacob Weaver, AKA Wesley. Trailed by the title track, ‘Twins in the Wind’ and ‘Not Sure That Was Me’, Glows in the Dark is out today via Earth Libraries and well worth your time.
Weaver’s shared a mini-essay about the record to coincide with its release today, and we’re posting the entire thing. Have a read of that while getting familiar with the album. RIYL signposts if you need them: Cut Worms, Kurt Vile, Bedouine and Cass McCombs. Sounds good right?
[It’s] almost entirely questions directed at myself. I think writing songs about problems or joys in my life has helped give me perspective on these things. At the time, it was what I needed to do.
Most of the songs started out as little melodies with lyrics, most of which became choruses, and I worked around that. I was lucky in the way that when they came, those few words seemed right. I struggled a lot with filling out the lyrics particularly on the track ‘Fire.’ There was something big I wanted to communicate and it took a long time to get it right. ‘Another Green Morning’ was written in about ten minutes.
[Visuals] became more of a focus 5 or 6 years ago when I started working art department in film with a couple friends. I shot both videos during quarantine. I didn’t like trying to do everything myself but it’s nice to look back on them now.
The ‘Twins in the Wind’ video was [conceived] in a way that I didn’t have to light anything myself. It was too difficult to try and do all that and be in front of the camera. So, I would look for little spots of sunlight shining through, set up the camera, and run through frame. The song is about the childhood and adult version of myself as two separate entities moving farther apart with time. In the video, a man absconds with buried treasure only to find that the real treasure is knowing that treasure exists, haha. While filming, my neighbor (we live on a wooded lot) was bulldozing his plot. It felt a bit ironic.
‘Not Sure that Was Me’ is about ‘the demon of self doubt.’ I’ve always really liked those red glowing eyes in movies and things. Like in Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, and The Cure’s video for ‘Boys Don’t Cry.’ I cut red reflective tape and put it over my eyes. At one point, I was standing on the top of a ladder in the dark with tape over my eyes. I wouldn’t want to do it again.
Working in film requires long hours, for sometimes long stretches of time, and when the work is done there may be some time before the next job rolls around. When I wrote these songs, I was trying a new sleep schedule or it was trying me. I’d wake around 2 or 3 in the afternoon and turn in at about 6 or 7 in the morning. I think I was in a bit of a manic state, but it felt exciting and I was writing songs. I finished the album in an old video rental store/ice factory. It’s where my studio is now.
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