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Another Babe Club jam on the horizon
Get your experimental jazz rap fix with new concept album, Scraps On March 17, local independent composer Jerry Weston Mize released a collage of audio snippets entitled, Scraps. “It’s a concept album,” Mize said. “It’s composed of 19 short songs meant to act as sonic ‘scraps’ — as if in a scrapbook.” Mize travels within the realm of experimental jazz rap on Scraps, dropping recognizable tones of ukulele, piano and guitar next to dreamy synth variations and recited stanzas. The record flies by in just over 23 minutes as it mingles melodies within an electronic composition of gathered sounds and studio recordings. —Chelsea Grinstead
Music 03.30.2022
By Chelsea Grinstead
30
Dynamic alternative duo, Babe Club, is gearing up to release a new single, “Lazy Lover,” April 6. The sweet yet edgy new song is a synthpop confection that gives a glimpse into the real-life couple behind the indie rock outfit, singer-songwriter Jenna Desmond and multi-instrumentalist Corey Cambpell, who toured consistently for years before being limited to their Charleston home in the 2020 lockdown. “That was the first time me and Corey got to have a relationship that was in one place,” Desmond said, “so it was having to relearn how to make things exciting — we worked so much together, we didn’t stop and smell the roses, you know? And it was also me wanting to be better for myself. He’s been there for me, and I just wanted to be better. That’s what the song is about.” Opening with the imagery of unshaven legs and undecorated walls, Desmond sings of her affection for the one who is the “first-edition fantasy issue” to her “dusty magazine.” The new song’s simple electric instrumentation interlaces a heartbeat bass line with whirring synth effects that mute and amplify as the lyrics unfold. On the production side, “Lazy Lover” is a do-it-yourself milestone for Desmond and Campbell. It’s one of the first songs Babe Club recorded in-house after quarantine canceled their plans to record in Atlanta. The other song that came from that period of homestudio solitude was the downtempo, airy altpop lullaby, “That Feeling,” released in 2021. True to form, Babe Club had multiple versions of the upcoming single before they landed on a direction. “That’s pretty classic of us, we always have a couple renditions of a song,” Campbell said. “When we first did it, we even recorded a whole drum pass — it kind of sounded more ’80s. Then, I found this kick drum pattern and it totally changed the song and made it more the modernsounding thing that it is right now.”
Photos by Matthew Lohan
Babe Club will drop a new synth-pop single, “Lazy Lover,” April 6
And while “Lazy Lover” may have the heaviest pop infusion of the Babe Club discography, Desmond said its underlying theme sprang from examining how depression works. “You don’t think that your environment is great and maybe when you get out of it to the other side, or in little bits of it, you feel more vibrant and alive,” she said. In addition to focusing on a steady music release schedule, Desmond and Campbell have taken up producing for various local and regional acts, including LosAngeles based singer-songwriter Georgia VanNewkirk. “It’s really refreshing for me to be able to songwrite and do vocal production for people,” Desmond said. “After going on my own vocal journey and being where I feel like we exist in Babe Club — it’s just a totally different thing to work with other people and fight for what they want.” For Campbell, producing for others has pushed him into new territory he wouldn’t necessarily go on his own. “There’s defi-
nitely a certain drive to learn something new,” he said. “Once I learn something I did for another record, I’m like, ‘Oh, I can use that for Babe Club, now I have a new tool in the toolbox.’ ” Desmond and Campbell’s recent work with VanNewkirk is what sparked the collaboration for the “Lazy Lover” music video, which was filmed in L.A. and is set to drop April 13. “We whittled down the concept of the video to be very simple and location-based and color and mood based,” Desmond said. That location was the Salvation Mountain art installation in a place called Slab City in Calipatria, California three hours outside L.A. This Salvador Dali-esque backdrop paired with the kaleidoscope filming style results in a visually indulgent experience, made even more vibrant by the bold makeup and wardrobe. “That was one of the themes I wanted to have: a journey with color and movement,” Desmond said. “The style — it was kind of like otherworldly.”
CofC School of the Arts’ piano series finale set Acclaimed operatic baritone Will Liverman and lauded pianist Paul Sánchez will perform their new, Grammy nominated album Dreams of a New Day: Songs by Black Composers April 19 at the Sottile Theater downtown as the finale concert in College of Charleston School of the Arts’ “International Piano Series.” Dreams of a New Day is an evocatively beautiful array of songs by Black composers spanning early 20th-century pioneers like Henry Burleigh and Margaret Bonds to contemporary virtuosos Damien Sneed and Shawn Okpebholo. $30 tickets for the 7:30 p.m. concert are available through the George Street Box Office online or at the door. —CG
Two Rivers expands scholarship program Music Academy of the Two Rivers in West Ashley is a nonprofit that provides music lessons to children regardless of merit or circumstance, with violin, viola, cello, piano and bass lessons. Founder and executive director Savannah Cash has recently opened up new options for members, including access to free instruments and studio materials, drop-in guided practice sessions and lesson observation. Visit musicacademyofthetworivers. com for details.—CG