Bridges (2019)

released September 14, 2019

“Bridges,” Ariel Wang’s long-percolating debut full-length release, is out now! The album connects her simpler folk beginnings to the developing complexity of her music evident in her most recent 2015 EP, “Cat Faze.” With a splash of bowed banjo and thumping cello, the styles are wide-ranging from tunes which call to the Appalachians to odd-metered psychedelic numbers, while her unique voice threads the songs into a narrative about love, loss, trauma, joy, and growth. Unafraid of pushing boundaries, yet tied firmly to her roots, Wang’s songs break the bonds of genre while remaining timeless gems. 

The album was recorded and mixed at New, Improved Recording with sound engineer John Finkbeiner in Oakland, CA where she is based. The album is mastered by Myles Boisen. With players from backgrounds in old time, classical, jazz, and rock, and even a 10-person choir with singers from all walks of life, Wang demonstrates her unique ability to gather sounds and folks and put them together to create new adventures in music. She herself pulls from a multi-faceted background. You can hear the influences of Townes Van Zandt, John Denver, and Gillian Welch in her songs “Carolina” and “House Upon a Hill” and “Banjo Song,” the nostalgic dulcet tones of Sufjan Stevens in “Juniper” and “Lady Lay,” the psychedelic trip of a circus doll on steroids in “Mind Quest,” and the intensity of a heavy metal solo in the introduction to “Montagues and Catapults.” Behind many of these songs, you can also find her classical violin training coming through in carefully-arranged string quartet accompaniment.

Out now on iTunes, Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon, Google Play, and more!