Discover Gingerly: they’re called Almost Sex and they’re totally great!
For fans of Villagers, Kevin Morby, and Maribou State.
Questo articolo è disponibile anche in italiano.
It’s hard to believe that there is actually someone for which 2020 has not been totally awful. It’s even harder to realize that if lockdown didn’t take place, that someone would have never started both a new project and a new love story. Yet, that’s exactly what has happened to Nick Louis and Warren La Sota, aka the miraculous duo almost sex. Living in two different cities during the first national lockdown, they met on an online dating app, and after several months of remote collaboration, they officially started a band by releasing two singles, as well as a life together. But that’s their story to tell, and I’m happy they contacted me on Instagram, giving me the chance to introduce you to their music and their world!
As always, I invite you to play gingerly before diving into the interview :).
- Your project and relationship started during quarantine and you described it as “a chance online encounter, several months of remote collaboration, one freakin’ epic meeting”. Please tell me all about it, as this is truly a unique story in such a difficult period!
Nick: It was mid-March, and I was having a boozy few days as some of us do when we’re newly unemployed during a global pandemic that your city is rapidly becoming the epicentre of. So naturally, I was swiping on dating apps to try and distract myself. I matched with Warren and was immediately intrigued by her pictures, aesthetic, and somewhat obstinate prompt replies. She said she was an artist and a writer so I asked to see some of her writing. She sent me over an excerpt from her novel, and full of liquid courage, I made a little spoken-word piece out of it that night. She apparently liked it and wasn’t creeped out (which I was a bit shocked by) and we continued working this way for months, until finally meeting in person (epically) in late May.
- How were you living your quarantine days before you met each other?
Nick: I was staying in Brooklyn, living at the apartment that I did overnight dog-sitting at. All three of my roommates contracted COVID-19, and the woman that I worked for was gracious enough to let me stay at her place while my roommates got better. It was right in the beginning of March, so everything felt enormously uncertain and things were hitting close to home far earlier than I expected. Warren was in the city for a day or two after we matched on Hinge, but luckily her roommate had access to a cabin in rural Vermont so she went out there for around two months.
- How did you come up with the name “almost sex”?
Warren: Along with several other random lists such as “poet aliases” and “novel characters,” I had gathered a list of potential band names over the years. After we had written a few demos, Nick asked what we were going to name the project, so I read him the list. As soon as I said, “almost sex,” he said, “that’s the one.” We both thought it had a nice ring to it, and it also contained a bit of a metaphorical nod to the way we spent our first months together. Almost speaking, almost meeting, almost… You get the idea.
- “Folky alternative post-punk rock indie pop”, that’s a lot of genres for one duo! How did this polyhedric sound arise?
Nick: I don’t know if this is going to be disappointing to anyone, but that long genre tagline is a joke. We thought it’d be funny to name as many genres as we could. Honestly though, I’ve always felt comfortable with the umbrella term “alternative” as a catchall genre for any project I’ve been a part of. Choosing a single descriptor can make me feel a bit boxed in.
- As of now, you’ve released “knockoff” and “Charmer”, which respond to the folky and indie-pop labels in your tagline. How did you write these two and what can you reveal for the next releases?
Nick: “Knockoff” was written over the summer while we were staying at Warren’s parents’ house. We were up in her attic and I started playing a little palm-muted three-chord chug and mumbling some melodic ideas. I recorded the mumbled melodies and sent them to Warren and she wrote the lyrics. After that, it was just a few days of production, a few days mixing, and we were done.
Warren: “Charmer” was written not long after “Knockoff.” We had just returned from our weeks long stay at my parents’ house and were back in the city trying to write more songs. Nick was working on adding some wonky, warbled synths and samples to this drum loop in his bedroom and I was working on lyrical ideas as he sang melodic ideas to me. The actual writing of this song was really quick, but since it was a very detailed production with a lot of layered textures, it took Nick and I a little longer to finish the production and mixing of the track.
- How did you individually become interested in music and what did you study?
Nick: I’ve always been a music lover and have been writing little songs (usually ones that only existed in my head) since I was a kid. I joined my first band in high school and actually still work with one of the guys from that project (Ken Helmlinger) to this day. I’ve always been most interested in the craft of songwriting. I never much cared for learning scales, covers, or cite reading; I just wanted to write songs. And my favorite artists are the ones that understand the inexplicable, but instantly recognizable markers of a truly inspired composition. So I think as far as studying goes, I mostly try to study the greatest songwriters of the past century (Paul McCartney, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, David Byrne, Kanye West, Conor Oberst, Justin Vernon, etc.)
Warren: My parent’s and their friends are all very musical, so my brother and I grew up watching them get together for weekend long jams and tagged along to bluegrass festivals in the summers, where we kindled some of our longest lasting friendships. As a kid, I took piano and guitar lessons and later picked up the ukulele and cello. In my final year of architecture school, my thesis focused on combining music, dance, and architecture through notation to design better spaces. I guess a lot of my life has been centered around music; memories and accomplishments throughout my childhood and schooling, friendships (I met my roommate randomly at a rental car agency trying to get to a festival), and now, meeting Nick and having our music spark our connection and help us through these crazy times.
- What are your expectations for the foreseeable future?
Warren: We’re going back up to my parents’ place for the winter where we’re planning on doing semi-live recordings of a couple of our favorite songs we wrote together remotely during those first few months. We are planning to release that, along with another single, some time in early 2021.
- Where do you see yourselves in 5 years from now?
We really believe in this project and can see it going places if we can keep the pace up. Who knows where the world will be in five years, but hopefully, if people are going to live shows again, we’re hoping to be able to do some touring and see where it takes us.
- Could you recommend me three other emerging artists that you reckon worthy of being listened gingerly?
Warren: First, we want to say thanks so much to Listen Gingerly for taking the time to get to know us a little! We have been very fortunate even in these short months to connect with several really talented up and coming groups. K. Sofia (@kristossofia) and their single “The Fool,” is definitely worth checking out on Spotify. They also have an awesome playlist called “Indie Vibes” we recommend following. Nick’s childhood friend Alex Drake (@alexdrakemusic) is doing some awesome pop-punk revival type stuff out in LA that we’ve been digging, and Nick’s old roommate Adrien Espy (@adrienespy) is releasing his first solo EP very shortly, which is sure to be amazing.
