19 March 2021 - 0 Comments

Indie-pop up-and-comer Wells* lays it all bare on his reflective new EP out today, Tape 3 - the third and final installment in a series of mini records the Auckland-based writer, singer and producer has released over a period of several years.

Tape 3 follows on from 2019’s Tape 1 and 2020’s Tape 2 and while it reveals the final piece in the puzzle it also cleverly stands alone as its own body of work.

LISTEN HERE

A thought-provoking, honest and moving collection of songs - which contains the new single Feeling Something; the already-released Depressed and new track The Worst Optimist In The World - Tape 3 sees Wells* delving into his innermost thoughts.

“This EP was the moment I said ‘No love songs!’ because everything I had released before Depressed was a love song and I wanted to challenge myself to be more insular and process different emotions, which feel less universal to me. Specifically this EP became about my depression.”

Wells* describes Feeling Something - the new single on the record - as “the phase of desperation I went through, willing to feel anything other than how I was if it meant for a moment I wouldn't be depressed.”

“I am particularly proud of the metaphor in the chorus ‘I’m looking up but I get the sun in my eyes’ because that really is how it feels to have hope when you feel like how I felt. It's a little defeatist but still holds the most hope out of anything else on Tape 3.

True to form and his glowing reputation as a talented jack of all trades, Wells* (whose real name is Josh Naley) wrote and produced all of the songs on Tape 3, calling on peers Eddie Johnson and Struan Finlay to help with mixing and mastering; with the Grammy Award-winning US engineer Jeff Ellis (Frank Ocean and Jeremy Zucker) mixing Depressed.

Josh has been songwriting and performing since he was 10. In the past few years he has played with acts such as Robinson, Thomston and Navvy; while studying music at University of Auckland, where he honed his skills as a producer. He has gone on to produce for a number of other New Zealand acts, and of course, he also shines as an artist in his own right.

Comments

Return to News Archive