Vita and the Woolf Moves ANNA OHIO Album Release

Today, Vita and the Woolf also known as Jen Pague, is sharing the song and video for "Confetti," premiered by WXPN's The Key. It's the third single following "Operator" and "Mess Up" from her upcoming album Anna Ohio, moved to August 21 via Tender Loving Empire. [Pre-order/pre-save here].

In discussing Anna Ohio's "Confetti," Jen Pague says, "The downfall. Anna, waking up, fing up, partying too much, going on a bender. Staying up till 4 in the morning, drunk texting her ex, working a job she hates. It's also the realization that if she leaves this life she's created for herself, she will miss her friends, family, everything she has ever known. Anna, the partier, the drunk, the loud mouth - is ready for a change."

Anna Ohio is a fictional character however, the album is a very real pilgrimage of self-discovery. The LP's interconnected songs tell a self-referential story about a flawed but strong character striving for reinvention. As Anna, Jen Pague's dreamlike examination of life under late-stage capitalism ("Home," "Auntie Anne's Waitress") and desire for escape ("Operator") are somehow more real than reality: they're a direct line out from a soul-searching heart and mind. The album is both patient and hook-filled. The understated guitar work echoes Elliott Smith, and the inventive drum patterns of Pague's longtime bandmate and friend Adam Shumski give the songs a rare rhythmic depth.

A remarkably intimate 10-track pop record packed with both electric imagery and deep vulnerability, Anna Ohio is a magic dance that oscillates between empowering anthems and open-hearted diary entries. The mellow moments that support the explosive ones and the loving lyrical details that support the big themes. The album feels like facing an ego, killing it, and then rebuilding, or confronting addiction, depression, and self-doubt through the overhaul of one's personality.

Anna Ohio represents the first time Jen Pague has written and recorded an album that executes her vision exactly. It's what Pague, who recently moved to Los Angeles, has been driving at since she broke into the Philadelphia music scene at the age of 20, lugging her keyboard around and sneaking into bars to play open mics: a vulnerable, honest album that disregards genre conventions in favor of pure expression. Where her 2017 album Tunnels brought stadium-level energy on almost every track, Anna Ohio is an exercise in subtlety and restraint.

Most importantly, Anna Ohio is Jen Pague's vision through and through. She built it with her own hands. In the process of writing and recording the album, she found the sound she had been searching for. And, through Anna, she told a story worth telling.

Photo Credit: Brian Legoo

To post a comment, you must register and login.