New Album – “Captain Obvious” – Raia Was
On her newly released sophomore album, New York singer-songwriter Raia Was finds catharsis from the anxiety of living through a pandemic in the form of Captain Obvious. The result is a record that tackles the big feelings inside life’s subtleties that will delight fans of Kate Bush, Weyes Blood and Mitski.
Captain Obvious is a technology I’ve been using the last three years to cope with the feeling of losing my “ness” (my perspective, my sensitivity, my footing). It was an entry way back into subtlety from the blowout of anxiety, through the simplicity of the obvious – the lamp is yellow, the sun isspotted on the white wall – seeing things as they are, and then making music from that place.
Raia Was
These songs are about the ecstasy of saying what you mean, about the awkwardness of apologies, about money worries, about the music industry, giving up the ghost and putting your cards on the table. It’s about deep sadness that turns into a deep drive to live. It’ll also make you dance, filled with interludes settling into deep grooves, spinning out in disorientation and landing back again as heart wrenching choruses “and here’s the fragile part.” It’ll leave you breathless and coming back for more.
Captain Obvious was self-produced by Raia and is available on Switch Hit Records (the musician-run cooperative record label co-found and run by Arthur Moon’s Lora-Faye Åshuvud, Cale Hawkins and Raia Was is committed to giving artists 100% of the profits from their work). From the electronic beats and reflective lyrics of opener “What It Feels Like” to the glorious alt-pop of “Give Up The Beat” and “If You’re Asking (I’m Offering)”, this is an album that captivates and takes you on a rollercoaster of emotions.
Raia Was is a mainstay in the NY indie music community, being raised in downtown Manhattan and performing as a teenager in piano bars on The Lower East Side, accumulating hundreds of hours of performance experience before beginning her professional career. She creates alt-pop that is dark, lustrous and contemplative and has an exceptional ability to push the boundaries of genre and create magnetic work that is honest in its exploration of the intricacies of identity. She performs a controlled suite of music with a rare brooding intensity and haunting sense of color and space set amidst her irreverent mix-and-match approach to live arranging. Her debut LP Angel I’m Frightened received praise from All Things Go, Flaunt Magazine, Blackbook Magazine, Slumber and Audio Femme and more.
Visit Raia’s website to purchase a copy of Captain Obvious and follow her on Instagram and Twitter for all the latest news.
