Landon Fleischman, aka Boy Willows, is truly experimental when it comes to his music. Inspired by nostalgia and his childhood in Maryland, Boy Willows was conceived in 2017. “I probably wouldn’t be listening to the music I was making if I wasn’t the one making it,” he told LADYGUNN. “A few artists that I liked are super organic. They had production skills that I didn’t have.”
COVID has a deep grip on our nation right now, but that doesn’t stop this singer from working. “Everyone I love is healthy right now, so to complain about other things right now is indulgent. I have a bundle of music in the back pocket. It’s hard to be present on creative endeavors, but at the beginning of quarantine were phone recordings that were sent between myself and Dylan Minnette of Wallows.”
His song for “Fila” feels like a dream and starts off with an infectious beat. “It’s a big sweeping harmony that is so big, dreamy, and super grand,” he says. “My music is really more condensed and a lot is happening but “Fila” felt more spacious and I felt I could be more colorful with the lyrics. There is an overlap of Dylan and my verses. It’s about loneliness and never amounting to anything. People say they feel happy when they listen to it, but it’s a morose verse with a hopeful twinge. It’s my attempt that I can do it. There is a silver lining with both verses though.”
Fleischman and Minnette’s relationship may still be in its infancy stages, but the way they met is pretty crazy. “I’d say it is a recent relationship. I had a good friend who I managed to get the tour management gig for Wallows. My friend asked me if I wanted to do lighting for them. I’ve been doing lighting for the band since 2018. We have a mutual admiration for each other’s taste. He really liked Fila and it was birthed out of that,” says Fleischman about Minnette. It just goes to show that collaboration can grow from anywhere.
Some call it pop, some call it experimental, but Boy Willows says 99% of his songs start with the music. “It starts with a harmony stack, the percussion, and then there’s the groove. I loved the first lyrics being ‘Follow me Down.’ All of these songs are self-cohesive. The idea that recording and fan bases will consume albums is a bit outdated process. Each song that I put out in the future will have their time to shine. If I had brought in another producer, they may have helped me elongate it. It started off with 35 seconds, then Dylan heard it and said it has to be longer. I like that it’s short and bite-size and it says a lot in the time allotted. We were thinking of getting a third verse on it,” the singer divulged.
The public will have a clearer vision of Willows when he releases his next batch of songs. “My music is formed by where I am living and limitations,” Willows says. “A lot of these songs that will be coming out has a lot of noise. I am going to have a ton more videos. We are going to make a lot more visual content. I want to bring people into the world of Willows. Sometimes my music can be ambiguous. The next bunch of songs and videos will be the first time the world understands I’m trying to create.”
CONNECT WITH BOY WILLOWS
photos / Seannie Bryan
story / Robert Frezza
