For those who feel like life is one giant pressure cooker, Wynona’s “Feeling for Edges” is a much-needed cathartic release: An intimate and aching alt-rock anthem capturing the crushing weight of anxiety, emotional friction, and inner turbulence in our daily lives.
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Stream: “Feeling for Edges” – Wynona
We’re trying to pretend it’s alright, but really we’re holding handstands on high wires…
There’s a tender turmoil coursing through Wynona’s first song of the year: An intimate, aching urgency that sends shivers shooting down the spine.
“I’ve been sitting on fences for the longest time, now I’m pulling out splinters,” vocalist Natalie Woodward sings, her voice a beacon of warm light over glistening guitars and driving drums. It’s as though everything we know could fall to pieces at any second, and we’re all just holding our breaths – waiting for that inevitable implosion to tear us apart.
For those who feel like life is one giant pressure cooker, “Feeling for Edges” is a much-needed cathartic release: Wynona capture the crushing weight of anxiety, emotional friction, uncertainty and inner turbulence in a beautifully dramatic alt-rock reckoning.
I’ve been feeling for edges
Lead me into my room,
my room where I tune out
I’ve been sitting on fences
for the longest time
Now I’m pulling out splinters
And we keep moving together
Find a place to keep us centered,
while we try to make things better
We’re living way too fast, if forever never lasts
I’m gonna miss this so much
Sometimes, we need someone else to capture and convey our pain, in order to better understand it ourselves – and to get some much-needed relief. Released January 17, 2024 via Wynona’s own record label HoboKawaii, “Feeling for Edges” is a soothing balm for our weary souls.
The Reading, England-based band’s first song of the year (following last September’s debut EP, Split Ends) sees the primary duo of Natalie Woodward and Richard Willats (together with guitarist/producer Adam Hailstone and drummer Kurt Phillips) flooding the airwaves with all those anxious thoughts our worried minds usually try to lock up inside. The self-described mum-jean rock group don a distinctly ’90s “mainstream alternative” sound that calls to mind such beloved acts as The Cranberries and The Sundays – dynamic and just a tad gritty, but nonetheless befitting an adult contemporary radio station.
Written in the midst of the COVID-19 lockdowns, “Feeling for Edges” conveys a certain type of gnawing fracture that every listener knows all too well. Woodward powerfully and poetically captures that familiar experience in a spirited and cinematic chorus that, despite its upbeat tune and soaring melodies, betrays the growing angst and upheaval within:
We’re trying to pretend it’s alright
But really we’re holding handstands on high wires
We’re trying to pretend it’s alright
But right now it feels like we’re falling apart
“‘Feeling For Edges’ is about finding stillness in the chaos,” Wynona tell Atwood Magazine. “The initial idea for the song came in one of those still moments, after watching ‘Reality Bites’ in the middle of the UK lockdown. We thought it would be fun to try and capture the feeling of that world as a writing exercise, as those characters felt like they were forever on the cusp of finding themselves and that was a fun starting place.”
“In some ways it wasn’t that far from our own situation, as we had just recently returned from living in Japan for several years and in this way the lockdown felt like a period of re-invention and forming Wynona was a part of this process.”
They continue, “The song remained on our demo pile for a few years until our guitarist Adam, who had recently joined the project, came across an early recording of ours, and re-imagined the song from his home studio in Brighton. His production and the sonic textures of his guitar are woven throughout, giving it a much-needed hopefulness.”
“With this fresh take on the song, it was captured by Owain Fleetwood-Jenkins at his stunning ‘StudioOwz’, a converted chapel surrounded by the rolling hills of Pembrokeshire, South West Wales. The song was then handed to our long-time friend and collaborator Ross Gilmartin, who mixed and mastered the song at his Studio ‘Calico’ in Lincolnshire.”
“Maybe in a fitting tribute to the chaotic energy that had always been present, the laptop containing the mix for the song was stolen in the final stages, and before the files were backed up. As a result the songs mix had to be re-worked from the ground up, and we really owe Ross a beer or two.”
Wake up, wake up,
my face needs cleaning up
Been a mess for a while now
I was trying to help you out,
there was no need to shout
Rent’s expensive,
so we’ll sleep on the floor
of your brother’s house
Moving together,
find a place to keep us centered
While we try to make things better
Wake up, wake up, my face needs cleaning up. Been a mess for a while now…
There’s nothing quite as freeing as admitting you’re a mess – and “Feeling for Edges” is, in may respects, one big ole’ confession of complete and utter disarray.
We all know what it’s like to feel as though your life is in shambles, and Wynona capture that painful experience with understated grace, raw passion, unflinching honesty, and unrelenting intensity. Through radiant vocals, spirited melodies, soul-stirring lyrics and hard-hitting beats, the UK band offer a special form of sanctuary – one that hits that mess head-on, rather than running away from it. It may not solve all our problems, but the first step to healing is admitting something’s wrong.
For all those drowning – struggling to find stability in today’s ever-present chaos – “Feeling for Edges” is your anthem; hopefully it brings a sense of peace and momentary release from that giant pressure cooker we call life.
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Stream: “Feeling for Edges” – Wynona
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© Lachlan Chester
© Lachlan Chester
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