UK painter and rising experimental popstar [Issy Wood](https://www.instagram.com/isywod/) releases her second EP [_If It’s Any Constellation_](https://orcd.co/ifitsanyconstellation) via Mark Ronson’s Zelig Records. Following up her debut [_Cries Real Tears!_](https://orcd.co/criesrealtears), her new EP is an exploration of Wood’s isolation of 2020. Written and recorded in her kitchen with a Juno-106 synth, wood’s fluid, wavering vocals are backed by equally warbling production.
Proclaiming on “Fuss”, for which today she also releases a video featuring balloon sculptures by David Crofts, Wood says “Maybe I’ll turn all your dream to dust, but I won’t make a fuss”. The somber lyrics battle the playful balloon animals in a dinner date gone sour. “It fits perfectly on an EP that is equally playful in form and morose in lyrics,” said Wood.
_Flaunt_ caught up with the fine artist and popstar to chat about the “Fuss” visual, the new EP, and being a “textbook” Capricorn. Read below and check out the swaying balloon sculptures in the video for “Fuss”.
**_If It's Any Constellation_, of course a play on "If it's any consolation". Do you feel consoled by constellations/the stars?**
The smog and weather is so bad here in London that actual stars are a rarity, but I also think I have a millennial duty to express fleeting interest in horoscopes—being told I’m a “textbook Capricorn” makes me feel better about my raging inner capitalist and so incompetent in romantic relationships. When I titled the EP, I was preoccupied by these linguistic mistakes called “eggcorns” (originating in somebody, not incorrectly, thinking an acorn was called an eggcorn) and had an unofficial list of them running in my head from what I’d hear around me. _If It’s Any Constellation_ was my favorite just because it’s somebody trying to help (consolation) and messing it up. This is my current MO.
**You recorded the record in your kitchen. Did you have a favorite spot in the kitchen to record?**
I have a seat at the kitchen table where I make music, a seat for eating, and a seat for making calls. All different chair designs. It’s crucial that these are different seats, so I retain at least the illusion of separate tasks. From the music seat, I can both reach to the stove to flip a salmon I’m pan-frying _and_ compose a synth melody. In a perfect world, I nail the melody, save the track, and my salmon is done. Other times I’m too busy torturing myself over not taking piano lessons for longer as a child that my salmon burns, a small fire occurs, I jump up to address it, and my headphones (still in my ears) yank the laptop off the table, I cry a little.
**_Cries Real Tears!_ came out just late last year. How soon did you start working on _If It's Any Constellation_? Or did the work never stop?**
The work _never_ stops (see Capricorn comment above or just Google “Capricorn traits”). When _CRT!_ came out, the majority of _If It’s Any Constellation_’s demos were already finished. I’m learning there can be a significant lag between making and releasing music.
**How do you think you've evolved since _Cries Real Tears!_?**
I’m a much, much worse person now, but a better musician.
**What brought you and David Crofts together for the "Fuss" video?**
Google, then choosing the balloon artist who’d done the most bat mitzvahs. My manager, John, did most of the organizing, and I just sent a list of giant objects I wanted David to make. He’s a genius—I have instant and enormous respect for anybody who chooses a niche and then just crushes it at the expense of all other skills. John is also a genius, just not with balloons. The pandemic has meant we still haven’t met in person, and I don’t know his true height.
**The video for "Fuss" oozes a sense of longing. What drew you to that somber tone contrasted with the innocence of the balloon sculptures?**
I didn’t think it would be so yearn-heavy! This only became the case once I was editing it, and it’s why I like to edit all my videos myself. I thought we’d get comedy and we got sadness, but like, sadness....for children. I knew I wanted Fuss to be the song for this video, balloons move ridiculously slowly, you need a slow song for that. Off-camera you could see the director of my gallery in London and the gallery tech wafting the big steak and cutlery with a thin piece of plywood to get them to move.
**Your music, particularly the vocals, sounds so fluid. What do you take from your painting practice and inject into your music? Or are the two not so different to you?**
They’re different, but in both cases practice is useful and so are layers and so is total solitude: nobody should have to see how many tries it takes to get what you want. My voice is unreliable, and above a certain octave it kind of says “please no,” and I have to honor that. I’m not sure what the painting equivalent of this is, maybe admitting you’re out of a specific color after you’ve squeezed the living daylight out of the tube.
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