VOWWS are an Australian duo, based in Los Angeles. They describe their project as ‘Death-Pop’ – existential angst and longing, feeding on a diet of popular culture, cinema and advertising. On their first two records, 2015’s The Great Sun and 2018’s Under the World, VOWWS (Matt and Rizz) honed a unique approach to writing and production. Working with producer Kevin S. McMahon in his upstate New York studio, the band record in a 200 year old barn and feed every instrumental part through a wild array of vintage & repurposed gear.
The result is a sound more tactile than most electronic-based music, whilst retaining some machine-like coldness that offsets their ruminative lyrics, sounds and images.
The experimental approach to their art has won the interest of some distinguished collaborators including Gary Numan (who performed guest vocals on The Great Sun) Thor Harris (Swans) and Deftones frontman Chino Moreno. In December of 2018, the band reconstructed a
single from their second album, Structure of Love, with Moreno and Danny Lohner (aka Renhölder of N.I.N and Marilyn Manson). Moreno recorded a featured vocal duet with Rizz, crooning the chorus, ‘I can’t get you out of my mind, your love is so hard to define.’
The fashion world has also taken notice of VOWWS’ strong aesthetic sensibilities. In January 2019, the band were invited to perform during the Commes Des Garçons runway show for Paris Men’s Fashion Week. The relationship with Commes and it’s retail partner, Dover Street Market, flourished as they were invited for in-store performances in Tokyo and London, as well as designing an exclusive merchandise line for the brand.
On the heels of a partially completed world tour with Poppy, VOWWS wrote the menacing, angular DEFCON 1 anthem, Impulse Control. The accompanying video (directed and edited by the band) shot partially in LA’s Little Tokyo just prior to shelter, flawlessly captures our current dystopian climate of paranoia, mania, absurdity and occasional gallows humour.
