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The beauty of music is that you can encompass seemingly everything into one song. Such is the case with Motel Pool's latest pop-punk ditty, "Waste Away," premiered today on
SF Weekly. Filled with hypnotic guitar and laidback drumming, the song will be on Motel Pool's self-produced upcoming EP,
Motel Pools Vol. II, out July 15 via Suburban Rage Records, a follow-up to the band's June 2015 EP,
Motel Pools Vol. I.
Motel Pools is helmed by singer-songwriter Chiara Angelicola, who recently moved back to California after spending most of her twenties in New York City. She's an old-hand at writing songs and making music, and has been in a slew of bands, ranging from electronic outfits to garage-rock acts.
Now that she's back in San Francisco, the 31-year-old is keen to make new music and describes Motel Pools as "a sort of 'fuck you' towards all those industry struggles I have faced along the way." Her combativeness and aggression are palatable in "Waste Away," and for good reason. Says Angelicola, "I can't count...how many times I was 'manterrupted' in the studio when writing, how many times I was robbed by a 'producer' who worked with the Black Keys, and how many times I got underpaid because I was my own representative at shows." As a result, she describes Motel Pools as "a catharsis, and, more than anything, a body of work written on my own terms."
With its mid-tempo melody and sinewy vocals,"Waste Away" is a reflection of Angelicola's attempt to start anew and cope with past events. Around the time she was writing it, her dog experienced heart failure and her boyfriend and she decided they wouldn't get married.
"This year turned out to be a big year of letting go and shedding unnecessary weights," she says. "I had to tie these feelings of loss to a song, and I think "Waste Away" describes it perfectly."
But though the song was written under are dour circumstances, it is far from depressing. If anything, it's hopeful that things will get better in the future.
