By Jim Barber
An train in important self-examination coupled with a eager observer’s exposition of the human situation at road stage, proficient Toronto-based singer/songwriter/instrumentalist Vivienne Wilder’s new album Horrible Human is a musical panoply that seamlessly shifts moods, factors of view and setting for a memorable and evocative aural expertise.
There’s elegant literacy to the songcraft, each musically and lyrically, however Wilder’s proficiency with these two languages is belied by the scrappy, frenetic, straight-off-the-floor depth and intentionally low-fi ethos that permeates the manufacturing on Horrible Human. The discerning listener will undoubtedly be impressed by the pleasant precision within the enjoying, the advanced vocal characterizations, and total compositional efficacy of every of the file’s 11 tracks.
Oh, and so they’re additionally infectious, extremely listenable, and tremendous enjoyable too!
From the bodacious, brash and unavoidably badass opening monitor ‘Intercourse Machine,’ working alongside collaborator/producer Ian Docherty (Dwayne Gretzky, July Discuss) Horrible Human takes the listener by way of a solid of characters from Wilder’s personal life, from these round her, from fiction, and someplace in between. Every track is a narrative unto itself however at all times immersed in believability and actuality.
“I’m consistently writing and I used to be beginning to really feel like I used to be overdue to lastly file some stuff, after which as soon as I made a decision, I hung out curating my decisions of which songs match collectively in some form of presumably coherent style,” mentioned Wilder, a local of Saskatchewan who’s a extremely schooled and extremely expert musician, with stints in symphonies, jazz ensembles, punk bands, and a variety of esoteric recording tasks over the previous 15 years as a prolific, well-respected and far in demand member of the Toronto music scene.
“I’ve a sure voice in my writing in order that even when these songs have been written a few years aside, there can nonetheless be a by way of line connecting them as a result of it’s simply the way in which my mind works. With this new file, for instance, I had perhaps 20 potentialities that I delivered to Ian, who produced and engineered and combined the file, and we simply went with our intestine as to which of them we’d work on. Like, ‘this one feels proper to do immediately.’ And the method was form of ruled by that. I simply determined to belief that, by following our emotions, it could work out.”
That ‘sure voice’ will be described in some ways. In her personal phrases, Wilder refers back to the present type of her music, notably on Horrible Human, as ‘Bubble Grunge.’
“I believe it’s humorous, but it surely’s an actual time period too. No less than for this file it’s a great way of describing the onerous, edgier sounds sonically to it, but additionally that there’s an accessibility the place the melodic items and vocal hooks and stuff like that brings the ‘bubblegum’ side into it. And that’s kind of just like the Nineteen Nineties. I believe Smashing Pumpkins was like that and Courtney Love along with her extra glossier stuff. However on prime of that the issues that they’re singing about are actually generally darkish and scary,” she mentioned.
A replay of her discography, from her 2012 self-titled, folk-centered debut EP, by way of the rock stylings of 2017’s Waking Up the Dinosaurs, the 2020 EP postromantic, by way of to 2022’s exceptionally uncooked and revelatory I Don’t Consider, bears witness to a real evolution of Wilder’s track creation prowess and the human/artist behind it. Horrible Human sees her exhibiting an effusive honesty and authenticity as she inhabits the ‘characters’ behind every track – particularly when that character is in complete, or partially, herself.
Vocally, once more, an evolution has taken place as expertise and confidence has remodeled Wilder right into a extra dynamic singer who possesses a ragged magnificence in tone, and theatricality of supply that’s, at instances, fairly movie noir in nature.
“I don’t even sound like the identical individual to myself in any respect. I used to be fairly late within the sport as a songwriter and as a singer [she had been playing in bands as a popular bassist/background vocalist for hire for a number of years]. In order that 2012 EP was my first time singing result in something. I do know I’ve come a good distance since then, simply bodily with the ability to sing louder and mission my voice in numerous methods and attending to know my very own voice and accepting its flaws but additionally generally enjoying up these flaws, which is admittedly enjoyable, really,” Wilder defined.
“It’s additionally partially getting numerous assist from Ian too. He will probably be sitting there after we’re doing vocal takes and he’ll say, ‘I actually favored the path you went with this one. Let’s hold making an attempt that.’ I believe the suggestions forwards and backwards with one other individual that you simply belief is admittedly useful. There’s numerous playfulness in the way in which I’m doing the voices and likewise in the way in which Ian’s enjoying with how he recorded them too.”
Musically, it’s onerous to flee the aforementioned intentionally unaffected vibe and unwavering uniqueness to every track. It’s a reminder of Wilder’s various musical pedigree, but additionally her penchant for the free-form nature of punk rock – one faculty of punk particularly. The masterfulness of the enjoying, the cleverness and misleading complexity of the lyrical storytelling, enveloped within the rawness of the efficiency makes one suppose extra of the East Village NYC, CBGB’s, Blondie, Speaking Heads, Andy Warhol, Velvet Underground sound versus the uncooked, simplistic chaos of The Intercourse Pistols or The Damned. The poetic musings of the likes of Lou Reed and Patti Smith have been as boldly literate because the music was anarchic at instances, however the observations of life, love, lust have been as compelling as they have been nihilistic. On this sense, Wilder’s work is far more Debbie Harry than it’s Johnny Rotten.
“I do love all of these Nineteen Seventies New York bands quite a bit. Once I first began listening to these bands it was a really formative interval in my life, kind of late highschool. And I don’t even know the way or why I found it, they should have been reissued on CD or one thing,” she mentioned, including that phrases have at all times been vital to her compositions.
“I positively spent numerous time, presumably an excessive amount of time, fidgeting with lyrics. And I’ve at all times loved that a part of somebody like Patti Smith. I’m not even the hugest fan of her music, however her ethos and the way in which she talks about creativity and studying her poetry and understanding the entire story of her adventures within the early days of that scene – I really like that stuff.”
Artists of all kinds, and particularly songwriters, are recognized to make use of the artistic course of to unburden themselves from the ache of some historic wound, current heartbreak, redress a improper, or mirror on the implications of a youthful (or not so youthful) indiscretion. It’s an opportunity to ‘get actual’ with themselves or put out on this planet as a cautionary story to those that hear the songs and take them to coronary heart.
And numerous this self-evaluation and occasional recrimination is occurring with Wilder on this new album. Horrible Human relates again to a lot of what’s been talked about above however measured alongside a sliding scale of closeness to the autobiographical reality. Maybe in her worst moments, after a extremely dangerous day, Wilder may even see herself as a ‘horrible individual,’ however the songs on the album speak extra concerning the characters that populate them – a few of that are, sure, based mostly on her personal faults and foibles, some on these of individuals she is aware of, some utterly invented, or an amalgam thereof.
There’s a particular ‘fly on the wall’ really feel to among the compositions, as if we’re listening to personal ideas, witnessing personal deeds and experiencing the uncomfortableness that arises after we see somebody in ache, in unhappiness, or mired in remorse – or simply hungover and ruing a few misplaced selections from the night earlier than.
“Once I seemed again on the songs that ended up being chosen for the file, I noticed that numerous them have been coming from a kind of self-effacing place – the place I’m being extremely important of myself. Or have been instances once I was exploring remorse or issues that I assumed have been errors and even simply onerous, onerous moments in life. So, I suppose that’s what connects all of them. And apparently among the songs are in all probability written, a minimum of partially, perhaps 10 years in the past or extra at this level. However they by no means discovered a house on one other file,” she mentioned.
“I believe as soon as I heard all of them collectively and actually checked out it, it’s like ‘okay, properly it’s not precisely what I might describe as an total optimistic feeling so far as the lyrics and tone go,’ however I believe it’s finally optimistic in that the songs are exploring these concepts and making an attempt to make sense of them in virtually a therapeutic, self-awareness manner.”
Wilder does see the worth in utilizing her creativity – which is seemingly irrepressible, but targeted, schooled and dynamic – as a manner of processing the world, the day-to-day challenges and joys of life, in an effort to launch among the psychological and emotional shackles from her soul.
“I believe it was perhaps Amanda Palmer who introduced up the notion that each artist is on this spectrum of 1 to 10, the place one isn’t any filter [on what they are saying through their art] and it is extremely confessional, the place I’m actually going to sing about one thing that occurred to me and that is the true story, versus somebody on the opposite finish of the spectrum the place it’s a extremely filtered, extremely processed aspect of the artwork, which I see as like excessive fantasy – writing utilizing characters and fictitious settings. Numerous rock and roll lyrics and punk lyrics and the entire grunge factor was individuals externalizing all of the issues that you simply’re feeling in actual time, and that was releasing for me,” she defined.
“Finally, for a lot of artists, together with me, even when I did have some filters on, the writing comes from a spot of your personal experiences and your personal perceptions about being alive and also you simply can’t assist it. I believe for this album I’m, on common, within the center the place some songs are actually me and a few of them are very a lot me singing in another person’s voice. However even there I believe it’s all nonetheless a part of this therapeutic thought of working by way of stuff. I additionally actually like that totally different individuals can take heed to the identical track and get one thing completely totally different out of it.
“And in a manner, I’ve discovered that it’s actually helped me. One thing that I now take pleasure in, since I’ve been doing this for some time I’ll discover that I nonetheless write about sure issues versus issues that I’ve moved on from. Once I understand I’m writing about one thing time and again I’m like, ‘oh man, it’s actually time to let that go.’ It’s having the mirror of this course of accessible to me to assist me discover my very own patterns and be capable of say, ‘come on, you’ve written about that sufficient. Let’s do one thing else now.’ So, it’s form of enjoyable and helpful in that manner. And, truthfully, if these songs have been 100 per cent me, I don’t know if I might even have had the wherewithal to finish a file and get it out into the world.”
In addition to a tremendously gifted musician, performer and songwriter, Wilder additionally makes use of the car of visible artwork as one more type of self-expression, preferring the medium of collage. And, to paraphrase the legendary Canadian thinker Marshall McLuhan, there’s a message in that medium (or media!) that matches along with her songwriting philosophy of drawing from a broader palette of life experiences. Not solely do her remarkably vivid and highly effective collages assist soothe her restlessly artistic soul, however are additionally typically utilized in her album artwork.
“It’s kind of a Frankenstein’s monster. I’ll draw in numerous references from different individuals I do know, or perhaps one thing I’m studying or one other track that I like or what’s on the information and piece issues collectively. I like all visible artwork, however I actually love doing collage for some motive. And I believe I form of use the identical logic numerous the time once I’m writing lyrics – that kind of free affiliation factor, the place I’m pulling in concepts which will have come from a lot of totally different locations,” Wilder mentioned.
The partnership with Docherty led to certainly one of Wilder’s first co-writes on a solo album along with her producer, the track ‘Complete Mess,’ which does yeoman’s work manifesting the general vibe of the album.
“Ian got here up with the instrumental monitor for the track and [drummer] Adam Hindle [also of Dwayne Gretzky] helped out by making up these loopy drum beats that additionally knowledgeable what I ended up placing on lyrically and melodically. I occurred to have a lyric that I used to be already kind of messing round with however wasn’t utterly glad with, however I favored the place issues have been going,” she mentioned.
“Then it simply snapped along with what Ian did. So, it was actually validating as a result of I’m actually pleased with how that track got here out and it positively wouldn’t have occurred if it have been simply me, in my typical setting, which is on my own in my room, making an attempt to do all the things myself.”
‘Mistaken Hero’ is without doubt one of the strongest tracks on the album, largely due to the exceptionally evocative, stripped-down vocal efficiency from Wilder.
“Mistaken Hero is without doubt one of the oldest songs. I wrote it for a unique band initially a very long time in the past. On the time it was extra of an electronica form of factor. So, when that band ended the track form of languished, however I at all times cherished it, however on the identical time, I by no means felt good concerning the lyrics. It at all times felt unfinished. And it additionally by no means slot in with my solo band as a result of we didn’t have any synthesizers and it was largely like rock and punky stuff that we did, and it didn’t even match with the nation and people stuff I do on occasion. There was simply nowhere I felt this track may stay,” she mentioned.
“As soon as we determined to start out utilizing extra synthesizers within the stay present, I noticed that now this track was doable, and since I already had a tender spot for it, I ended up simply sitting down within the studio when Ian was enhancing the vocal take or one thing on one other track and simply completed the lyrics randomly actually rapidly. I used to be like, ‘oh, it’s completed. It solely took 10 years, but it surely’s lastly completed.’ I’m actually pleased with that one, and it’s very emotional for me to sing. Though it took such an extended, ridiculous course of to get it completed, it’s perhaps one of many easiest songs on the file.”
A equally lengthy journey lastly noticed the psychedelia-tinged ‘Rust Lady’ lastly fall into place.
“I actually needed to chisel away at that for some time. It went by way of many alternative variations earlier than this one. It was extra of a punk track the place I used to be enjoying a fairly quick strumming guitar half and that’s initially how we tried to do it within the studio, but it surely become what it’s now, which may be very synth heavy, with a lot of trippy soundscapes. Lyrically, it’s actually simply an exploration of being with somebody who is admittedly depressed.”
Distinction this with the Intercourse and the Metropolis-like inferences of ‘Take Out,’ which, relying on the mindset (and presumably relationship standing) of the listener, can take one down some fascinating attainable narrative pathways.
“That one is me with the filter totally at 10, so it’s not me. Everybody asks me why it’s referred to as ‘Take Out’ and I inform them it’s about somebody bringing takeout meals to their good friend’s home, cuz they bought shit to speak about. However I’m actually not going to say rather more about what it’s really about as a result of that’ll damage it. Typically I believe it’s enjoyable to jot down about one thing actually, actually particular, however change all of the phrases to cover what the story really is. Basically, it’s about someone who’s making an attempt to get somebody again – however I’ll depart it there.”
‘Pure Born Quitter’ is one other one of many least autobiographical ones on Horrible Human (in accordance with the Palmer scale), however is completely apt for the bizarre, wacky, and wasteful world all of us presently share.
“That was one the place I got here up with the overly intelligent title first, based mostly on the [1990s Woody Harrelson/Juliette Lewis cult film] Pure Born Killers. And it was written out of frustration, in all probability from Fb. I strive to not spend an excessive amount of time on Fb anymore, so there was a time once I was weaning myself off as a result of it simply appeared like nothing good would occur to me if I spent a lot time there. However then I might break down and be curious and simply scroll and see what persons are writing and seeing the paranoia and the bizarre tone that pervades there. That’s what actually bought the track going. After which I introduced it some extra private particulars and a few oddly particular issues to make it extra relatable for me to sing,” Wilder mentioned.
“In order that one’s positively a few character. I’m really apprehensive as a result of I’m not certain individuals will perceive that it’s a character and never me.”
What individuals gained’t have to fret about is Vivienne wilder slowing down any time quickly. Moreover lining up gigs and doing press to advertise Horrible Human, she continues to work dates with a bunch of artists from throughout the musical spectrum, together with people artist Abigail Lapell, and alt-rocker Joan Smith from Joan Smith and the Jane Does. She can also be within the bands Nick and the Narcs with Nicol Robertson, performs in a 2000s cowl act referred to as The 99s, performs alongside people singer Jon Brooks and does numerous freelance company and studio work.
“Numerous it’s fairly random, however when studio stuff comes up, it’s pretty. And I nonetheless get to do the odd classical music gig on the upright bass, which I really like,” she mentioned.
For extra info on Vivienne Wilder and Horrible Human, go to
Jim Barber is a veteran award-winning journalist and writer based mostly in Napanee, ON, who has been writing about music and musicians for greater than 30 years. Moreover his journalistic endeavours, he works as a communications and advertising specialist, and is an avid volunteer in his neighborhood. Contact him at jimbarberwritingservices@gmail.com.
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