strobe session 34 - liz hodson & josiah wolf

Опубликовано: 13 Май 2025
на канале: Strobe Sessions

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Liz Hodson & Josiah Wolf perform at Chicago's Strobe Recording for the third Thursday live session.

Josiah Wolf, like his younger brother and WHY? bandmate Yoni, has never been able to escape the call of music. His father, a Cincinnati rabbi, taught him drums at the age of 9, so that curly-haired kid could provide the backbeat for worship service. Later, he'd dabble in darker arts (i.e. grunge) and fall in love with the hard bop of Thelonious Monk on his way to the University Of Cincinnati's music conservatory. In college, the Wolf boys made fast friends with then-unknowns like Doseone and Odd Nosdam. The formative Greenthink experiments eventually led to the legendary cLOUDDEAD trio, and Josiah coproducing the group's "JimmyBreeze" 10-inch. It hadn't previously occurred to Josiah to write or sing, but Yoni's outsider M.O. spurred him on, resulting in 2003's lo-fi and long out-of-print The Josiah EP. Inspired, he moved out west to become an integral part of WHY?'s rebirth as a full band. In 2006, he bought a guitar and began to teach himself Silver Jews songs in secret. Unbeknownst to even his brother, he took vocal lessons and practiced several hours a day, hoping to coax out the voice he'd always known was there. The lyrics came, and the music too. His obsessive dedication took place between tours, and on them as well -- on a week-long stay in Berlin with WHY?, he'd escape to an old graveyard each day in order to play. For nearly three years, Josiah honed the songs that would make up his LP debut. In November of 2008, he settled into a cottage in the woods outside of Cincinnati, ditched the click track and recorded his songs raw. All that lush instrumentation -- drums, bass, organ, piano, bells, marimba, vibes, shakers, etc. -- came later, recorded to the music's naturally elastic tempo. In working on the record, Josiah hardly saw another person. Instead, he saw snow, trees, big skies and an old stove burning the wood he'd collected while walking the property.

In the early spring of 2010 Josiah toured stateside & across Europe in support of Jetlag as a solo act. Being somewhat of a purest and against the use of prerecorded tracks for his live performances Josiah found himself in need of a second bandmate. While in Europe he telephoned back home and groomed Liz Hodson for her stage debut. Liz spent the following two months learning bass and immersing herself in music. Her childhood was spent singing along with her mother's records of Joni Mitchell and Kate Bush creating a lasting impact vocally. Liz recorded her first EP at the tender age of five with her mom's friend Michael Manahan on guitar. Flash forward 25 years and Liz has crafted a hauntingly beautiful and controlled voice that has been compared to Hope Sondoval (Mazzy Star) and Margot Guryan. The duo toured the US in late spring and fall of 2010. Weaving Liz's intuitive sense of melody with Josiah's rhythmic mastery the two continue to experiment with new sounds creating an ever changing live arrangement. This year sees Josiah Wolf singing and playing a minimalist drum kit, marimba and guitar (often simultaneously) while Liz holds it down on Rhodes piano, Microkorg and bass guitar, giving the impression of a much larger band than two people. With the help of his trusty RC-50 peddle Josiah creates lush layers of vocal harmonies and instrumentation of both players in a manner not often performed with a looping station. Each member alternates as lead vocal, accompanying the other with harmonies that create a wonderful juxtaposition between male and female voices. With all of the new material being created the band is ripe for a rebirth. Their future LP will actualize this metamorphosis. May the angels of music christen them a new band with a new name.