WOAH makes us yearn for the past in new EP “sitting in an open room”

By Nadya Barghouty

In their sophomore EP, sitting in an open room, WOAH further perfects the balance between indie surf and shoegaze. The North Carolina four-piece is made up of Mikey and Ruben Gomez, Zac Tice, and Jackson Martin: two brothers and two friends making intimate and effortless bedroom pop hits. sitting in an open room has more textural variety than the group’s last EP Better Left Unsaid and shows WOAH is leaning into defining their sound. 

The EP’s first track “i don’t want to die when i’m with you” begins with a calming synth ambiance that slowly is layered over with bass, keys, drums, and guitar. Airy vocals invite us into WOAH’s world: slow-moving, dreamy, and cinematic. The stream-of-consciousness lyricism gives the listener the ability to escape. The track feels like after a long day swimming outside when you lay down to rest and you’re floating. 

This feeling continues throughout the EP. The underlying theme of the lyrics is abstract. There is not an obvious storyline weaving through the six tracks, but rather the uniform sense of collage. Each track feels extensively layered with independent  sounds, merging together to make a final picture unique from all its parts. “bad luck” has an infectious chorus, while “late hour” is full of yearning. “your last cigarette” is a turning point in the EP and opens the door to deeper and slower melodies. “never goodbye” follows with the spotlight put on lonely lyrics and droning melodic guitar.  

“all my friends keep saying that i’m dead” is the EP’s last track and my personal favorite. Oftentimes the nostalgic bands either lean into faster paced colorful melodies or drawn out darker slowcore. The latter being the direction of “all my friends keep saying that i’m dead.” The new wave of nostalgic indie music can feel either hyper-dreamy or hyper-sad, WOAH walks the line between both feels painting a more honest depiction of the past. 

Delicate melodies and lots of ambient reverb bring the 4-piece from Charlotte to new heights on sitting in an open room. WOAH is on their way to becoming nostalgic indie powerhouses like CASTLEBEAT or Teen Blush. Like many bands born during the pandemic, WOAH has had to wait a little while before getting on the road and stuck to mainly local shows. That being said, we cannot wait to catch these new songs live in venues across the US.