Today, Faye Webster has released her first new single in 2 years. ‘But Not Kiss’ towers as a modern love song, steeped in the in-between feelings where romantic longing crashes into ambivalence, with an explosive piano hook the song oscillates between Webster’s near-whispered intimacies and a stunning, maximal arrangement. “I think it could be a really romantic song or a really anti-romantic song,” explains Webster. “It’s something I’ve looked for but struggled to find in other love songs, for them to describe this conflict or contradiction.” Along with the new single, Webster has released a companion music video directed by Kyle Ng of Brain Dead and filmed at Los Angeles’ famed Bob Baker Marionette Theatre. WATCH HERE.
To celebrate the video release Webster has collaborated with Brain Dead on a limited edition t-shirt that will be available exclusively at a launch event at Brain Dead Studios in Los Angeles, CA tonight that will include a live performance, a ping pong tournament, a screening of the ‘But Not Kiss’ video and a Q&A moderated by Kevin Hayes.
As she works toward a subsequent full-length, Faye Webster acknowledges that ‘But Not Kiss’ “says a lot about what’s coming.” With an immediate, lovelorn yearning and a stunning, maximal arrangement, ‘But Not Kiss’ is both Classic Faye and a new pinnacle achieved. Her most recent release was her Car Therapy Sessions EP which came out in April of 2021 via Secretly Canadian.The EP featured re-imaginings of her works for orchestra. The orchestral ensemble was headed by Trey Pollard who was responsible for both conducting and arranging. Like Cole Porter, or Judy Garland – her delicate and emotional delivery packs a gut punch when dramatized by the EP’s robust arrangements and the experience’s influence can be heard in spades on the new single.
I Know I’m Funny haha, the 24-year-old artist’s most recent full length was also her most fully realized effort to date. Though she usually tackles album-making in a song-by-song approach, 2020 necessitated a more intensive recording process. Webster immediately knew the Athens-based players she wanted to record with and headed into the studio with producer/mixer Drew Vandenberg (Deerhunter, Of Montreal, Kishi Bashi). They assembled a band including Harold Brown on drums, Bryan Howard on bass, Nic Rosen on keys and Matt “Pistol” Stoessel on pedal steel – one of the most reliable and essential musical elements of Webster’s records.
A self-taught guitarist by elementary school, with a long tradition of bluegrass and country players in her family, Webster was bound to be a musician. At just 16 she released her debut album, Run & Tell. Like other teenage phenoms Jackson Browne and Laura Marling, it exhibited stunning lyrical and artistic clarity. Her Southern roots were obvious but Webster had more than country music inspiring her worldview – she was deeply embedded in the culture of her hometown, Atlanta. Lil Yachty was her classmate, she was sneaking out to see underground shows and fortuitously had befriended rapper/producer Ethereal while in High School. She went on to sign to Awful Records, making her label-mates with Father, Playboi Carti and Ethereal. To the outsider, an odd home but Webster shared the same weirdo art-kid ethos of her label mates – impossible to peg, endlessly experimenting, making shit, doing stuff, genre-fluid rule breakers.
Her 2017 self-titled release on Awful brought her enough notoriety to get her signed to Secretly Canadian, the home of ANOHNI, Porridge Radio, Whitney, Yoko Ono and more. Two years later, she released Atlanta Millionaires Club to widespread critical acclaim. “Few R&B albums have a pedal steel; few alt-country albums have a rap feature. Faye Webster’s Atlanta Millionaires Club somehow has all of the above. Even stranger, she manages to smooth these apparent contradictions into serene folk-pop with a mellow soul tinge. Webster is an anomaly, but her arty individualism represents an important common value,” said Pitchfork.
A multi-hyphenate talent, Webster also is a successful photographer who has shot campaigns for Killer Mike, Offset, D.R.A.M, Nike and other brands. She is a sometimes model and full-time yoyo enthusiast. Webster incorporates her yoyo skills into her live show. In 2020 Barack Obama included her single ‘Better Distractions,’ on his playlist of favorite songs and she also released the single ‘In A Good Way.’ Both songs appear on I Know I’m Funny haha.
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