WILD HEART CLUB PREMIERES NEW VIDEO “RAINBOW” VIA AUDIOFEMME
DEBUT LP ARCADE BACK IN MANITOU OUT NOW
“Castro continues to walk a path that is deeply honest, living fully in her truth as she works to pass on the core message embedded into her music: it gets better.” - Audiofemme
Photo: Anna Haas
WATCH: “RAINBOW”
Today, Nashville-based dream-pop outfit Wild Heart Club has released a video for “Rainbow,” a track from their debut LP, Arcade Back In Manitou, which came out November 12th.
“In Japanese culture, there’s a special method of repairing a broken object. Known as Kintsugi, the art form uses lacquer mixed with gold to not only mend broken pottery, but celebrate its imperfections, incorporating the broken pieces into the object’s history,” says Audiofemme in the video’s premiere. “The art from continuously revealed itself to Kristen Castro – singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist behind Wild Heart Club – while in the writing process for her new album...But before she could walk the path to her destiny, she had to embrace her own brokenness.”
Castro created Arcade Back In Manitou to help her process the aftermath of a difficult breakup, though she penned the track when she and her ex-girlfriend had just begun dating. “When you’re young and in love, you’re looking for any sign to tell you you’re on the right path. I saw so much magic in that moment and in that person, and looking at myself now, even though I miss her, I feel like all my favorite parts of her are part of me now,” Castro told Audiofemme. “I love when the sky is crying and all of a sudden you get a rainbow. For some reason, I felt like that sky, and I was like, ‘I deserve a rainbow. Is she my rainbow?’ I’ve had a lot of sadness in my life, so it’s just looking for signs.”
In the live acoustic video, Castro stands on a beautiful California beach with just an acoustic guitar and the sound of the waves to accompany her gentle voice, baring her soul as she sings, “Break down like a waterfall/When your tears dry there’s a rainbow/Lost in love, lose yourself/When your tears dry there’s a rainbow.”
LISTEN: ARCADE BACK IN MANITOU
WATCH: “ARCADE BACK IN MANITOU”
Transforming abstract emotion into compelling music, her early releases feature everything from mandolin to bass, piano to synth, banjo to drum programming, in songs that feel both effortless and complex at the same time. Castro’s latest project, Wild Heart Club, builds off the hybrid style of her solo work, evolving her eclectic foundations into an even more distinct and cohesive sound. The synth-heavy, guitar-driven soundscapes are laced with Castro’s breezy, candied vocals: think Sigur Rós meets Heart. It’s a strange and compelling combination that feels right for the current moment.
“I’ve always been drawn to people who aren’t in the cool club—the weirdos embracing their weirdness. This is music for them, as always.” Arcade Back in Manitou was written, recorded, and produced primarily by Castro herself.
She started writing the songs that would become Arcade Back in Manitou while recovering from heartache after a particularly difficult breakup. The album is an ethereal and lush collection of melancholy songs with a brilliant gloss of retro sheen. There’s a genuine and hopeful engagement with the positive, a buoyant, almost-ironic sense of cheer teeming from the instrumentation throughout, and a spirit of experimentation and discovery, despite the themes of loss the lyrics explore.
Hints of 80s plastic-pop and elements of 90s alternative cool are nestled in the mix, as well as nods to vintage and modern Swedish pop acts like Robyn, Léon, and ABBA. “I want to be the artist who can make you cry on the dance floor. I like songs that pair darker thoughts with happy vibes. Emotions are complex. It feels right to have that kind of complicated juxtaposition play out in music,” she says. “It feels honest.”