"Modern Whimsy", Atwood Magazine Issue 1

Atwood Magazine featuring interviews with...

Sanders Bohlke, Low Roar, Lauren Kristin, & Sarah Nieman and work by...

Anna Gregg, Anna Peters, Josie Gelling, Jessica Donnellan, and Natasha Wong

Issue No. 1, Fall 2012

“modern whimsy�

Atwood Magazine October 2012 http://www.atwoodmagazine.com

Atwood Masthead Editor-In-Chief Liza Pittard Art Director Kylee Burgess Photography Director Anna Peters Features Editor Katherine Coates

Music Editor Hope Mackenzie

Photography Editor Anna Gregg

Editing Assistant Emily Alford Writers Annie Stokes, Gretchen Roberts, Erica Harris Illustrations Erin Borzak Guest Photographers Natasha Wong, Jessica Donnellan, Josie Gelling Cover by Anna Gregg Special Thank You to: Blair Alford, Madi Davis, Natasha Billard, & Vanessa Ehrenpreis

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Contents 1. letter from the editor 3-4 2. new romance 5-11 3. a new feminine: both queen and solider 12-14 4. a royal affair 15-20 5. fashion’s night out 21-26 6. freckled woodlander 27-33 7. lauren kristin: artist spotlight 34-38 8. nuit blanche 39-43 9. the constant gardener 44-51 10. sanders bohlke: musician spotlight 52-54 11. snow white, rose red 55-59 12. redrawn 60-65 13. sarah nieman: artist spotlight 66-71 14. low roar: musician spotlight 72-75 15. atwood individuals 76-83 16. credits 84-85

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letter

from the editor

I’m so proud to present the first issue of Atwood Magazine. This project began as a dream in the back of my mind, and is now a reality. The theme for this issue is modern whimsy. The idea behind it is a return to fantasy, curiosity, and fancifulness, with a dark modern twist. We sought out fresh, youthful artists, musicians, and writers that we thought best exemplified this whimsical air to the modern world we live in. I want to take this time to thank the amazing people that helped to make this magazine possible. I could not have done this without each and every individual on my team, and I want to thank you all for having faith in this project.

Let the whimsy begin.

Xo Liza Pittard Editor-in-Chief and Founder

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new romantic

photos by Natasha Wong

The New Feminine: Both Queen and Soldier

by Annie Stokes and Liza Pittard

Tracking women’s fashion is a good way of keeping your finger on the pulse of the perception of women in our society. Our society places a lot of emphasis on youth, which can be seen in women’s fashion trends. This is all came to an exhausting zenith a few years ago, when baby-doll dresses

and ballet flats swept the fashion scene. Suddenly, adult women were wearing dresses that could theoretically look appropriate on their five-year-old daughters. The trend was fun and flirty and there were lots of ways to swirl some sexiness into the mix, but mostly the underlying theme was: let’s be little again. Let’s capture the magic of girlhood, return to our youth, and somehow make it work on adult women. While this trend has its place in the broad spectrum of women’s fashion, the fact that it was the overarching theme of the industry for a period of time is indicative of where our culture stood and stands on what defines “feminine” fashion.

Luckily, that zenith foretold a decrease. As baby doll dresses and schoolgirl shoes were phased out of stores and off runways, a new trend took over. More adult and regal, this “new femininity” draws on vintage concepts of women’s fashion while incorporating new elements that reflect women’s changing status in society.

Valentino graced the runways with a series of long, full-skirted ball gowns that Grace Kelly would have worn to the Oscars. Made of light, soft materials in muted champagne colors, the pieces have traditional bodices and lines and don’t employ plunging necklines or gratuitous displays of skin. Maxi-dresses and vintage inspired-gowns employ rustic and natural hues, creating goddess-like vibes. Of the shorter dresses on display in high-fashion collections, they are mostly made of delicate, traditionally feminine lace and have classic waistlines. One of the harbingers of the baby doll dress era was a lack of waistlines: the dresses had child-like bibs and a smock-like line. These new shorter dresses depart from that style and were definitely tailored with a more adult figure in mind. They are playful and cute, but one cannot deny the underlying sexy adult mystique.

In Valentino’s collection, as well as in other collections, the princess-like theme is evident. The women wearing these clothes are beautiful and feminine, of course, but they are also formidable. They command your respect and admiration. They are pow-

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erful. Designers are also resurrecting sleek cuts from the cigarette-and-martini era, where the female attendees were elegant and cultured. These evening gowns are traditional and understated, and the delicate and often floral-inspired details adorning the pieces are clever contradictions to the powerful punch that these gauze creations pack. This is another style that a queen of the Hollywood golden age would wear while seducing leading men and causing production interns to tremble in fear. Other designers honed in on an almost military vibe, employing asymmetrical panels and harsh, boxy lines, giving feminine an androgynous edge.

Many designers created exotic pieces resembling something that Maleficent would wear while ordering around her minions and running her evil empire. They aren’t physically sexy in that you can hardly discern that wearer’s shape under the garments, but each piece evokes the concept of a powerful woman. A dress by Elie Saab also falls into this category. It is a loose, tunic-like affair made of black lace. It brings to mind the Orient, evoking thoughts of Eleanor of Aquitaine, who was a total boss in an era when women had two options: die in childbirth or join a convent. This dress was made for a queen. The wearer is beautiful in a sage, stunning, Jessica Lange-type way, but that’s not her true “draw.” Underneath her features lies a mind that would slay you in a duel. She is sex and power combined.

These new trends emerging in fashion have redefined what many traditionally associated with feminine fashion. With classic shapes, elegant embellishments, and powerful lines, the garments currently featured on the runway create a “new feminine”—a powerful, elegant, and commanding woman. These collections are saying: women aren’t toys. They aren’t baby dolls. Their value doesn’t decrease once they enter adulthood and middle age. Women are queens, and they are on the front line of battle. And now they are finally dressing like it.

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A Royal Affair photos by Jessica Donnellan

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Fashion’s Night Out photography/layout by Anna Gregg writing by Erica Harris

There is nothing worse than city traffic, a fact that Atwood Magazine editor, Anna, and I had to accept as we drove in to New York City for the eagerly anticipated Fashion’s Night Out. As Anna and I neared our destination, the passers-by metamorphosed from the average New-Yorker to vibrant fashionistas, sky-high (aspiring) models, and vigilant photographers and bloggers.

FNO is, as described on the event’s website, an “after hours shopping extravaganza.” In over 500 cities worldwide, retailers open their doors later than usual boasting special sales, celebrity guests, DJs and fashion-inspired events. Retailers like Lord & Taylor, Diane Von Furstenburg, Dior, Victoria’s Secret, Aldo, and Kenneth Cole, among hundreds of others, participated in the most recent New York FNO. The arrival of models, designers, editors, and celebrities that September 6th heralded the beginning of New York Fashion Week.

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The first stop on our fashion adventure was Bloomingdale’s on 59th street. Our motive behind rushing to Bloomingdale’s: Eva Chen, the Health & Beauty director and Special Projects editor of TeenVogue. Eva was stationed at Bloomingdale’s Clinique counter to meet with anyone interested in beauty, fashion, etc.: an opportunity that we readily took advantage of.

Before moving on to another round of stores, we walked by the Michael Kors retail store (where the display was to die for) and where none other than Michael Kors was said to be stationed. A crowd was gathered behind red ropes and inside there was a seemingly VIP cocktail party. The long line and body guards at the door were enough to discourage us and we moved on to the more eclectic part of our adventure: Soho.

Soho was where we had the opportunity to breathe and take in the artistic side of fashion. We were surrounded on crowded streets by people our age. Those who were waiting outside of Billionaire Boys Club to see Pharrell, and lingering in front of French Connection, taking pictures for blogs and Tumblrs, were the ones who brought a more passionate, cultural feel to FNO.

Overall, New York’s Fashion’s Night Out received a gold star in my book. If you are looking for a way to immerse yourself in fashion, this would be the route to take. Be on the look out for FNO 2013 in your area.

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freckled woodlander

photos by Anna Gregg

lauren kristin interview by Anna Peters

It is an understatement to say that Lauren Kristin’s work is powerful. Her images convey some of the deepest human emotions. From the human figure, to mundane everyday scenes, to the most intimate of moments, Lauren Kristin captures them all beautifully. Her focus on muted colors gives her work a somber, dark tone. With her refined creative eye, she is able to create stunning and honest photographs.

artist spotlight

Do you have any favorite photographers or artists?

Could you briefly describe your photographic style?

I would describe it as journalistic, sometimes cinematic. My work is like me talking about

The list is endless. I take myself and my life, explaining it all, but inspiration from everything I consume. Jason Lazarus, Harmony without the words. Even the photos that are Korine, Bas Jan Ader, Nan Goldin, much more conceptual and require planning and conception before the actual execution, it Marina Abramovic, Duane is still recording my opinions and ideas that I Michals-- they’re all thrilling. possess in that certain frame of time.

Your work often seems very self biographical. Is this an important aspect of your photography?

It is. It’s extremely self biographical. I like to remember everything. You can’t put your arm around a memory, you know? And that’s why photography helps me come to terms with that fact. I obsess over memories. It drives me mad. I didn’t start taking pictures because I wanted to prove anything, but just because remembering the past is such an important part of who I am.

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Your use of dark, muted colors is stunning.

How does color affect the impact of a photograph for you? What to you wish to achieve through you editing process?

I don’t like bright colors very much. They hurt my eyes. They’re too loud. When I process my photos I enjoy creating an atmosphere that implies a sadness, a tentativeness, something of that sort. That’s how I experience the world.

If you could photograph any person or model living, or dead, who would you must love to shoot?

Would you be a different person without photography?

No, I don’t think so. I think my urge to create would simply manifest itself in a different form. I imagine I’d write and paint much more than I do now. Photography just has such a hopelessness to it.

It is a terribly human and pathetic attempt to stop time. It is heroic, in some ways. And stupid.

My first answer is the people whom I love. My second answer is Die Antwoord.

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Nuit Blanche

By Gretchen Roberts

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“If you’ve ever wondered where your dreams come from when you go to sleep at night, just look around. This is where they are made.”

-Brian Selznick, The Invention of Hugo Cabret

The two hundred and eightieth night of 2012 marked this year’s annual Nuit Blanche in Paris and other cities worldwide. The cities become artists’ canvases as seemingly ordinary buildings and museums by day, are turned into arbitrary art pieces by night. The all-night affair offers to those up for the challenge a chance to experience a wide array of peculiar, but fantastic, displays of human imagination, creativity, perception.

Sensory overload.

It is quite fanciful, indeed.

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Paris: 7PM --------The lights turn on. A parade of open umbrellas congests sidewalks, a stream of car lights floods the street: Anticipation is high and the night has surely begun.

For the next twelve hours curious Parisians and tourists alike will promener along the Seine desiring nothing more than to once again experience the feeling of wonderment felt at each new display of artistry spotted. The simplicity of some, the complexity of others is odd and amusing continuing to pull their viewers into a trance--wanting more.

Sensory overload. It is quite fanciful, indeed.

Thousands of bubbles drifting down into the crowds with changing lights that cast passerby into an illusory state.

A few blocks ahead a garden is lit up, colored shadows creating a pattern on the overhang. There is an almost secretive lull of “oos” and “ahs.” The circular patterns the colors create capture those who stare and hold them in their chancy grasp. The task of looking away is easier said than done.

Once freed, the crowd keeps moving. Time is a force that seems to be working against them although the night still young. Umbrellas unshut still, some persons go separate ways venturing to see different shows of artistry. Along the way one might hear the playful drunken shouts of others all on their own path. And just as suddenly, the moving exhibit-- a party on a bus complete with hypnotic strobes and beats-- may startle those walking in otherwise dark solitude. A few steps ahead the Samaritan reminds participants via the power of neon they are in fact experiencing “du soleil dans la nuit”, the sun in the night.

Soak up the rays, there are many hours yet to come. The Seine continues to flow and just as surely the avid Parisian keeps following.

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Gazing out over the sparkling water one might happen to notice the video projection installed on a building, rive gauche. To most, the video seems just an array of random coins and perhaps other material items, but to the artist it has meaning. Black and white, the projection plays on.

The hours become wee, the yawns more frequent, and the feet more tender. When to draw an end to Nuit Blanche is almost as tough a decision to make as what installations and exhibits to hunt down, but the time comes nonetheless. The walk home is never uneventful, however, with just as much to be seen. Choosing is the wayward battle: drawing with lights, artists painting masterpieces live under time restraint, colossal formations of a soap-like substance bubbling up, objects suspended from cranes, a reworking of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Every choice is just as amusing to the senses. Uncertain as to which choice would be most sensible, it is sometimes reasonable to let curiosity win and go see not one or two, but all. And so the second wind of the Nuit Blanche enthusiast is found! Onward, into the mischievous hours of Sunday morning, soaking in the sometimes unpredictable, quizzical surroundings known as Nuit Blanche.

the constant gardener photos by Anna Peters

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Sanders Bohlke musician spotlight

by Hope Mackenzie photo credits: Artist In Mind

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Sanders Bohlke didn’t seek out music, he simply “fell into it.”Growing up in Mississippi, Bolke was always en

veloped by music. Going to blues concerts or playing in bands in high school seemed to be the local norm. It is from his southern roots that he draws the majority of his inspiration, and no matter how much his music may evolve or change through the passage of time, audiences are captivated by the unique melodies that his background provides.

While attending Mississippi State University, Bohlke began writing his own music, and recorded his demos on an eight track recorder. A friend of Bohlke’s gave his music to a man with a studio, and it is there that Bohlke made his first record. Andrew Ratcliffe helped guide him through the production process. “Andrew was great,” Bohlke said, “He’s a really easy and fun guy to work with.” Collaborating with each other to make the tracks the best they could be, Ratcliffe and Bohlke eventually trashed the first year and a half of recordings. The final recordings of the entire album were all recorded in a three to four week period.

Lately, Bohlke has been in The Quad, a studio in Nashville, working on his second album “Ghost Boy” with producer Jeffrey Cain. “Recording with Jeff is its own experience. There’s no formula with him,” explained Bohlke. “What do you want to do?’ he’d ask me. And then I’d play something on the spot and he’d just say ‘Okay, let’s lay that down.’” The Cain-Bohlke partnership expanded Bohlke’s musical territory, and listeners will hear the differences in recording and production. There are some samples on the album that are solely Bohlke’s own riffs on a four track recorder. For the song “Search and Destroy,” Bohlke brought his intro guitar melody to Cain on a four track, and Cain refused to rerecord it. “To Jeff, it doesn’t matter the format. If it sounded good, we used it.” He believes that the album needs to be listened to as a record – from start to finish. Listeners can expect to hear the stunning blending of Bohlke melodies with more electric guitar, drums, and “Jeff feel” than ever before. Definitely one not to miss, “Ghost Boy” is due to come out before the year’s end.

“I’m ready, and I hope my fans are ready too,” said Bohlke. He is proud of the growth of his upcoming album. He felt like writing it wasn’t work at all, but a stream of consciousness that flowed out of him into music. He hopes that his future is filled with collaborations with other artists and projections into other art forms. Bohlke is interested in multiple areas of creativity from blogs to photography to movies. One day, he hopes to not only score films, but maybe even create a few of his own. “There are a lot of things that I want to do creatively, and I just can’t wait to start trying them.”

When questioned about his own accomplishments, he states quite frankly that there is no right or wrong way to be successful. “All I can really say to people is to keep working really hard at the craft.

Of course, be good at what you do, but if you lack in ability make up for it in working hard and improving,” Bohlke advises. Sanders Bohlke clearly works hard and cares about his own craft, and his new album will be one more reason for fans to obsess over his beautiful compositions.

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Snow White, Rose Red

by Annie Stokes

Recently, I encountered a dilemma.

This story starts when I was three and saw The Little Mermaid for the first time. From then on, I was obsessed with princesses and fairytales. Of course, this doesn’t make me special: If you are a girl and you were born in the Western world, your first ten birthday parties were probably princess-themed. When I was in college, I embraced the wisdom of my feminist forebears and studied gender. I was able to incorporate real-live princess stories into this dialogue, because there were some totally bitching princesses back in ye olden days. (Anastasia? Elizabeth Tudor?

Isabeau the She-Wolf? Anyone? No? Moving on.) I was, and am,obsessed.

And in 2011, when Kate Middleton became Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Princess William of Wales, I totally stayed up all night and watched the live coverage of the wedding and cried into my macaroni and cheese when they said ‘I do.’ And when the blue dawn came, my friends and I were sprawled across the living room, using each other as pillows and talking about how beautiful the balcony kisses were and whether or not we would be attending our morning classes. And I thought, we are princesses.

Which is why I was beyond devastated when I read the actual texts of my beloved fairytales. Readers, they are dark, and not in a “disemboweled by a wolf” kind of way. God, I wish the only thing the wolf did was disembowel her. There are a few beyond-disturbing themes in classic fairy tales, the most offensive being sleep-rape, locking ladies in towers, and girls getting mutilated for walking on proscribed paths, in a not-so-subtle

way of saying: “You will be destroyed and rendered worthless if you are not obedient.” (There are also a lot of dwarves in these stories, but that’s neither here nor there.) So there I was, a feminist college graduate with a Sleeping Beauty obsession and the clunky realization that my favorite stories were giant, medieval apologies for patriarchy.

I still want to like fairy tales. The imagery of Sleeping Beauty and Snow White, of Cinderella and Rapunzel – they shaped my childhood. I still dream in fairy tale. But when I think about Grimm’s Princess Aurora, or all the poor girls locked in towers, I get that guilty feeling like when I listen to early Taylor Swift and I swear I can hear Susan Sarandon’s voice booming down from heaven: Anne, you are a traitor to your gender. And if I ever have a daughter, hopefully in a more evolved and progressive society than the one we live in now, I can’t imagine I’ll want her to emulate girls who are the literary personifications of Stockholm Syndrome.

I am going to do something that is frowned upon in the literary world.

I am going to repurpose my fairy tales for the modern woman who doesn’t want to accept dowries and nocturnal copulating as her lot in life, but who really loves tiaras. And folklore. I know that the Grimm brothers and all other collectors and authors of fairy did not intend for their work to be used in such a way, but I don’t really care. My gender is totally informed by the image of the damsel-in-distress, so I think I’ve earned some consumers’ rights.

I’d like to start by drawing your attention to the main characters of these fairy tales. The popular ones all feature females. Sure, you have your Rumplestiltsken and your Jack of Beanstalk fame. But throughout the ages, the characters pulling in the audiences have been women. That’s a good start. Most people don’t even know the names of the Grimm or Disney princes, and the only reason I do is because I have an unhealthy relationship with Wikipedia. So we have a cultural interest in heroines and whether or not they end up happy. That’s good.

The girls themselves are also remarkable characters. Rapunzel, passive kidnapping victim and tragic shut-in, gave birth to twins while she was banished in the desert, and then she cured her prince of blindness. In the original Italian version of Sleeping Beauty, the prince raped Aurora, impregnated her, and she woke up following childbirth. Not great.

But in the later French and German versions that became canon, Princess Aurora and a good-hearted cook manage to save the two children from the evil ogress stepmother-in-law and return to the prince. Not only is that pretty impressive (my biggest accomplishment today was buying mango juice), but all the important agents in this tale are ladies. They are the villains, the heroines, the damsels, the helpers. In The Six Swans, a lesser known but totally weird

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fairy tale, the princess in question is responsible for saving her six brothers from a curse that turned them into swans. She is locked up in a tower, making magical shirts out of flowers, and disallowed from speaking or making a single sound. This seems like the archetype of patriarchal control, delivered to listeners through a benign story. But here’s the thing: the princess wins. She works hard and saves her brothers and her children and discredits the evil witch in a court of law.

The situations in traditional fairytales are undoubtedly sexist. They are the product of a time in which sexism was such a deeply ingrained way of life that they word “sexism” in itself is empty. But the princesses: they betray their authors. They betray their eras. They are girls and women who have been thrown into unfair and terrifying situations, and who largely come out triumphant. Obviously, the prince who skipped second base with his Sleeping Beauty is not the Disney prince that we all secretly fawned over when we were eight (or twelve or seventeen). But the Aurora who defied the ogress and saved her family, the Rapunzel who triumphed over single motherhood in the desert, the meek and silent sister who saved her six brothers – these are girls that I can emulate. These are role models that I can point out to younger girls and say, See? We can do anything, anytime.

Anywhere.

The fairy tale lives on.

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redrawn

photos by josie gelling

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Sarah nieman

interview by Liza Pittard

artist spotlight

What first drew you to art?

Was it something you were always interested in or was there a defining moment?

I’ve always been interested in art, at least thats what my mom tells me. I’ve been drawing since I was young, but it was when I took a basic art class in high school that I really got into it again.

What is your favorite subject to paint?

What are you inspired by?

My environment, I love being in beautiful places where I feel like I can do anything.

How do you go about choosing colors for your watercolor pieces?

Figures, hands down. I love bodies and I dont know! I kind of choose forms and the shapes that bodies make, whatever colors I feel like using, especially the female form. although I definitely prefer the brights over “normal” colors. I’ve always been drawn to the more vibrant colors, and I guess that even shows now in my clothes and my bright purple hair.

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Is watercolor your preferred medium?

When did you begin painting in watercolor?

I began painting in watercolor my junior year of high school, but all we did then was really just play with blending colors in class. Since then, I’ve sort of been self taught and very experimental about what I’ve done. And, I don’t really think I have a preferred medium, as I love different media for different reasons. Oil paints, watercolors, 35mm film, they’re all so lovely to me.

How long does it take you to complete one watercolor piece?

Typically a half hour tops for one of the high contrast, colorful pieces that I’ve made a lot of. I’ve been trying to teach myself how to paint more naturalistically though, and those take quite a bit longer, upwards of two hours.

What are your plans for the future?

Do you intend to continue to pursue art?

I definitely plan on continuing to pursue art! I am actually double majoring in photography and painting in college, though I might switch from painting to art education.

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What is your favorite piece that you’ve done so far?

What’s the story behind it?

My current favorite is the one I did of feet. There’s really no story behind it, but I’ve never been good at drawing or painting feet or hands, so I wanted to practice. But, I feel like I was more successful with it than I thought I’d be, and I’m just really drawn to it.

How long have you been doing art?

Has there been an evolution in your artwork?

I think there has been a complete evolution of my art, especially as I’ve been finding my own style. I feel like I’ve found a style for watercolors, but not the rest of the media that I use.

When creating your art, is there a creative process that happens, or does it vary from piece to piece?

It definitely varies from piece to piece. There are a lot of commissions that I complete that require really no creative process. However, when it comes to my personal work, I sometimes plan it out in advance and I just start painting and go from there.

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Low Roar

by Katherine Coates

Away in the shadows of the north and amidst a blanket of darkness, a smooth voice soars over electronic beats and pulsing chords. Away in Iceland, Low Roar, the musical project of Ryan Karazija, is ringing with a mounting promise. With optimistic crescendos trapped behind slow and grabbing melancholic melodies, the self-titled album has acquired an overdue but growing success after its late release last November. The songs, stretching with emotion, tell a series of separate stories with separate, mysterious subjects, though they all seem to have one thing in common—Iceland seems to be an unmistakable character. This whimsical and fantastical land, drawing images of swelling green masses and dark, cold winters, filters into every note like pure, spring water. Low Roar is the voice of this land. Low Roar is slowly becoming the voice of Iceland. Learning of this setting transforms the work, breaking these sad, smooth pieces into illuminated fantasies. The native San Franciscan hasn’t been familiar with this land for long, having moved there back in 2008. “Moving here was just really good for me,” said Karazija, “I was always that person that did seventy-five percent, and I always needed someone—my friends, my family—to push me to do that extra twenty-five. Now I’m the one that’s doing everything.” And he’s doing a lot.

Karazija isn’t new to the music scene, however. He began playing at the age of fifteen, after visits with his friend. “I would go over there to skateboard, and I just found myself playing his guitar

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the whole time.” From this found love, Karazija found himself in the San Franciscan band, Audrye Sessions. “I still liked everyone, where I was; things just began feeling like the same routine. Things just began to feel dull.” And so he left; and so was the secret ingredient to this remarkable talent—and so was Low Roar.

Low Roar is a project that seems to come naturally to Karazija, a project drawn from almost nothing. “I don’t really have any musical influences. I don’t really listen to anything on the radio; my iTunes is just things that I’m working on, really.” Some songs, like “The Friend Song,” as Karazija put it (“Friends Make Garbage (Good Friends Take it Out)”), he was able to write in one sitting.

“I just played a riff, and I guess, wrote the song without really knowing what it was about.” Performing may be a different story, however. “That’s one song that really messes with me sometimes.

It’s like when you were younger and you would know all of your friends’ numbers, so you could just dial without even thinking.

That song—I’ll get up there and sometimes, it’s like I forget the numbers.” “Friends” seems to fit this theme of unspoken loneliness in all of the pieces with an almost folk background. The lyrics, lowly roaring across chest-pressing melodies, seem to cry with strength and honesty all the same. Songs like “Nobody Else” and “Tonight, Tonight, Tonight” pulse with dark, drawn rhythms, closing the EP together to form a rounded masterpiece. And they’re getting notice.

Karazija’s glad the album is finally being recognized, but he’s more focused on what’s ahead, having a new album in the works and a current tour across Europe. “It’s definitely something I’m excited about.” And it’s definitely something we will all have to look forward to.

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atwood individuals

We asked what was modern whimsy to you.

These are our favorites:

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interrobang you seem like the kind of girl who’d appreciate punctuation, who would pause if i put a comma in front of her left foot on the sidewalk. would you swallow my question marks whole if i asked you about adam and eve at the end of the evening? would you quell my interrogation with exclamation points if need be and bring me back to earth with semicolons as you rattled off the names of my favorite singers? you seem like the kind of girl who’d appreciate a punch in the stomach with an inky dot at the end of each goodbye. (you seem like the kind of girl who deserves parenthesis and ellipses and…)

-Camryn Prince

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Oh the whimsical, they do not have trepidation.

They only have adolescent innocence.

Do they care if one is to judge?

No, it is a mere smudge.

They take an attentive preparation, While the others have a keen negligence.

Oh the whimsical, those who have become a drudge.

Tis not just any drudge though, a drudge to what they love.

-Austin McCrory

As If As if it were spread out on colorful wings For miles it reaches around As if it were written in deepening twilight, As the brilliant hues abound.

As if it were cast into the ocean, For eons it rode the waves.

As if it were rolled up and set on the breeze, And travelled for hours and days.

As if it were scattered through the heavens, For lingering minutes in space.

As if it were blooming from glossy branches, And dwelled in this humble place.

As if you could find where it’s residing, For moments of present and near.

As if you knew where the love was hiding, It would erase your fear.

-Sabreen Rash

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Credits: Natasha Wong http://www.flickr.com/photos/natashawong/ “New Romance” Model: Sara Skinner Wardrobe: Olivia Despard Assisted by Kelly McComas Jessica Donnellan http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaydeee/ “A Royal Affair” Model: Terri Lask Anna Gregg http://www.flickr.com/photos/annakay_/ http://www.AnnaKayPhoto.com “Fashion’s Night Out” “Freckled Woodlander” Model: Alison Banks, Direct Model Management Terhune Orchards, Mercer Meadows Anna Peters http://cargocollective.com/annapeters http://annapeters.blogspot.com/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/iammymothersonlyone/ “The Constant Gardener” Model: Lauren Reed

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Josie Gelling http://www.flickr.com/photos/josielila/ “Redrawn” Model:Che’ Domic Artist Spotlights Lauren Kristin http://www.laurenkristin.com Sarah Nieman http://www. sarah-nieman.com Musician Spotlights Sanders Bohlke http://sandersbohlke.com/ Low Roar http://tonequake.com/archives/roster/low-roar Atwood Individuals (in order): Amber Chavez: http://shuttermade.com/amberrose Andrew Jarman: http://www.flickr.com/photos/andrewinthecity/ Lauren Wisnewski: http://www.flickr.com/photos/laurenrw/ Amber Ortolano: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31542097@N05/ Ruby James: http://www.flickr.com/photos/51333111@N02/ Hui Yi: http://www.flickr.com/photos/yihuisu0830/

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