Getting It All Outsplayed with BEX and Their New Single “Molly”
“I went through this phase where I would listen to AM radio whenever I drove somewhere kind of rural, because it made me feel like I was a character from a different time,” Bex Vines of London, UK via Asheville, North Carolina dreamy slowcore band BEX shared with Wormbrain about the eponymous project’s new single. "I cringe saying that, but sometimes you’ve gotta take any of the little joys you can get.”
The new track “Molly” was released earlier this spring as the first taste of the band’s Move It or Lose It EP, which is set to be out in full later this week via New England label Disposable America (who also reissued their 2020 debut Don’t Mess With Bexas EP recently). On blush, the song leans country jangly, but it masks grim subject matter with pop charm and resounds in rocking fashion, fitting the full fresh BEX sampler package into a sub four minute musical morsel.
Vines tells us, “[the single] felt like a middle ground that represented the sound of the whole EP, which has both guitar-driven as well as pop tendencies. ‘Molly’ is different in the way that it has a tinge of twang, and a lot of different emotions and tempos which made me feel like it would be a great taster track to represent the full EP. The twang is definitely particular to ‘Molly’ by itself and I think is what sets it apart from the other tracks. The EP incorporates some pop-y synth and electronic drums, as well as some crunchy guitar and heavier parts. I think we’ve got a healthy variety through the whole thing!”
“Around this time, I picked up my guitar while in bed — for some reason, I really specifically remember being at the top of my bed, facing the wall — and was messing around with open chords in drop D. I made this loop of chords which decided it needed to be swung. From there, that kind of set the tone for the remainder of the song and gave me ideas to bounce from while recording, like adding some really subtle slide guitar in the outro.” Vines remains the root of BEX, a project that has changed over time, but they tap due credit to the collaboration of their bandmates on shaping “Molly” and the latest EP. “I initially wrote the outro with the ‘ooos’ to still be swung, but when I was playing this with my band, we decided there should be a change here, which is where we decided to remove the swing for the ending section and create a whole new energy. I definitely can’t take full credit for that idea, and I think it added a lot to the song.”
Photo courtesy of the artist.
“I went through this phase where I would listen to AM radio whenever I drove somewhere kind of rural, because it made me feel like I was a character from a different time. I cringe saying that, but sometimes you’ve gotta take any of the little joys you can get.”
“So far, since I’ve been writing music, I’m usually not someone to write something, record it quickly and release it soon after. I write these songs and am precious about them, which is actually something I want to try to deviate from in the future,” Vines stated, when asked about how they’re feeling about releasing music in 2022 vs 2020 vs 202?+. “The release of Move It Or Lose It as an EP feels like me letting these songs out of incubation and into the world where they were meant to be - it’s a really freeing feeling and I want to more freely share things as they come to me in the future.”
“I know a lot of artists were really prolific throughout lockdown in the pandemic, which I really admire, but personally it wasn’t a time for me to produce anything hugely tangible. I’ve thought of both of my EP’s as an ‘archive’ of who I am/was and would love for future releases to be shared as a vignette of who I am lately. I think it’s still valid for artists to want to hold on to that part of themselves until they are past it - I know as a listener that the specific shared experiences and feelings that other’s lyrics and instrumentals can elicit are really timeless,” they said.
“Typically, I write initially from lived experiences and then roll with it, kind of becoming my own character and fleshing out exactly what those experiences feel like, mean to me, and mean to the greater world. How they could have fleshed out in someone else's shoes or my own in a different life.”
Taking a magnifying glass to the track, Vines tells Wormbrain World readers that, “The lyrics in the verse set us up for the ‘promises mean nothing’ chorus. The first line, ‘Stacy called me today and said ‘Hey, hope you’re doing okay’’ was the real life catalyst for the song to build itself off of. The titular line then comes when I say ‘Molly she ran away after nailing her feet down to stay’. I hoped for this lyric — and frankly all my lyrics — to illicit imagery, but to make sure that happened, I included the following line ‘It was bloody so I looked away, and that was the day I learned that promises mean nothing’.”
“I wanted to reference visuals a bit more morbid as a representation of the pain and affliction that can come with someone breaking a promise. Someone ‘nailing their feet down to stay’ is them making a promise to not only you, but themselves. When they run away (breaking their promise), it doesn’t only harm the promisee, but the promiser, too. That's why I bring back the word ‘away’ throughout the chorus, too.”
BEX take the dour reality of lived experience into their lyrics further, as they expand on the back half of the track.“I kept on the theme of morbidity when starting the second verse with the line, ‘Baby bunny on the sidewalk, she made me sad - spine outsplayed (not sure if this is a real word but I decided I’m making it one), Painting from a housepet that I’ll never appreciate’.”
“Like the first line of the first verse, this line was another lived experience of mine - I was walking home from a friend’s house when I came face to face with the dead baby bunny on the sidewalk. Something like that can switch your mood in an instant, and I knew how it likely happened - one of the animals that roamed the area (‘housepets’) metaphorically making a ‘painting’,” Vines said. “But it wasn’t the kind of art that I could appreciate, although it did elicit a feeling from me. So maybe the aftermath on the sidewalk being art or not is debatable.”
Are we really about to end this article questioning what is or isn’t art?
Yeesh… Listen to BEX.
W.W: What is Wormbrain?
BV: Wormbrain is when you eat too many of those dirt cake cups with gummy worms and Oreo and it not only makes your stomach hurt but also gives you a headache.
W.W: Thank you for sharing with Wormbrain.
The latest BEX single “Molly” is now streaming everywhere digitally, released via Disposable America.
