Song of the Day: Jen Wood - Fell In Love

Local Music, Song of the Day
10/10/2014
Jacob Webb
photo by January Fredericks

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Today’s song, featured on the Afternoon Show with Kevin Cole, is “Fell In Love” by Seattle's Jen Wood from the 2014 album Wilderness on Radar Light / New Granada.

Jen Wood - Fell In Love (MP3)

In her 20+ year career, Seattle native Jen Wood has covered more ground than most musicians of her generation, evolving her musical output as she grows older and more experienced. At the age of 15, Wood and friend Madigan Shive formed the folk punk group Tattle Tale, maintaining a presence in the Pacific Northwest as part of the Riot Grrrl movement before dissolving in 1995. After Tattle Tale's end, Wood continued on as a solo artist for the better part of a decade, sporadically releasing pop-influenced indie rock and famously serving as Ben Gibbard's duet partner on The Postal Service's "Nothing Better". The beginnings of Wilderness, her forthcoming album, lie in the piano that Wood and her husband bought upon moving into a new house a few years ago. Admittedly "bored" with the guitar, Wood found herself revitalized by learning a new instrument, which led to her writing a new batch of songs in fall 2010, and four years and one Kickstarter later, those songs are compiled as Wilderness. Wood's renewed fire runs throughout album-opener "Fell In Love", a sweeping reintroduction to Wood's dulcet voice. Based around a looped piano line, Wood rides the song's rising and falling tension, spinning a romantic tale as drums explode and mute on a dime, eventually giving way to swelling strings and the last echoing remnants of Wood's voice. The experiences of falling in love is certainly a thoroughly mined one in music, to say the least, but "Fell In Love" avoids cliche by vividly capturing the mercurial, rather than solely the thrilling, aspects of romance.

Jen Wood will play an album release show for Wilderness in Seattle at Barboza on November 15th. Get tickets and more info on that 21+ show here, keep up with Jen on her Facebook and website, and watch her join the Postal Service onstage last summer to do "Nothing Better".

Related News & Reviews

Song of the Day

Song of the Day: Pony Boy - The Devil In Me

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Today’s song, featured on the Morn…


Read More
Live Video Local Music

Live Video: The New Pornographers

The New Pornographers have always had a knack for explosive, shining melodies, but after two relatively experimental, more mellow albums, they've returned to playing to their strengths – multi-part harmonies and agile, punchy performances – on their new album, Brill Bruisers. The Vancouver supergro…


Read More
Local Music Daily Roundups

Thursday Music News

So, what happens after the disco? Broken Bells break it down in the video for the title track of their sophomore release, After the Disco. In this clip, directed by Nelson de Castro, the duo of James Mercer and Danger Mouse take a walk through several post-party scenes. Check it out below, and che…


Read More
Song of the Day

Song of the Day: Ex Hex - Don't Wanna Lose

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Today’s song, featured on the Afte…


Read More