Through the Window
the spectral symphony of prewn
Photo credit: Silas Ray Burns
4th Wall is a DIY venue located inside the Capitol Theater in Arlington MA that hosts live music, with lighting and graphics by Digital Awareness projected onto the screen behind the performers. It’s a unique experience and for sure a fun and fresh way to see live music. I recently dragged my brother up to see one of my favorite new bands, Robber Robber out of Burlington. There was a pretty stacked lineup with Mingko and Pet Fox as the other acts on the bill as well as a solo guitarist set to warm things up for the full bands that would eventually bring the noise.
A movie theater is not what I’m used to for a live show, so it took me a little milling around to get oriented, kinda like a dog spinning in circles, perfecting their landing spot before they plop down (it felt like everyone else was having the same experience too). Anyway, we got there early and chatted up my friends from Burlington, so we were slow to get situated, but we eventually figured it out.
I’m 54 years old, so you’d think by now I would know enough to not judge a book by its cover or let personal biases from past experience color my thought processes, but no. I’m still a judgemental idiot sometimes, and this was one of those times. I saw the young woman setting up on the stage below (remember, we’re in a movie theater) and thought to myself Oh great, solo guitar sad girl… This should be exciting [eye roll]. Someone please remind me to not do that again.
She started picking and the sparse arpeggio guitar notes echoed out into the theater space, a little lonely and low octane, sort of wobbling into place. It felt like there was some uncertainty in the room, like How’s this gonna go? Then she started singing. I think everyone was as unprepared as I was for what they were hearing, or at the very least they had misjudged what they were about to experience, because there was a palpable awe that swept over the place in those first few moments. I turned for a look at my brother to see his reaction and to make sure it wasn’t just me, and his look told me it wasn’t. From that point forward the crowd was totally transfixed; I honestly don’t think anyone moved until the set was over.
Izzy Hagerup (Prewn) has a voice that is hard to describe but I’ll venture a handful of adjectives for the sake of it: haunting, evocative, mysterious, unnerving, unpredictable. It makes sense to your brain in context after you’ve heard it, but there’s a moment where you have to process what is coming from her vocal cords across the room to your ears and eventually your nervous system. She’s got a demeanor about her that’s sort of spooky-chic, and she takes you as her captive passenger for a bewitching ride in the Prewnmobile until she says it’s over.
Machine, live at 4th Wall. Video credit: Osprey Media Corporation
Her songwriting style and sound are as unique as her voice, leaving you wondering if you even know what you’re hearing. What exactly is it? Maybe it’s sardonic, macabre electric indie-folk? Or maybe it’s the doomsday mix of the soundtrack to Macbeth… Either way, it’s wonderful and disorienting at the same time, and you probably haven’t heard anything quite like it. The subject matter is heavy, and the lyrics are unapologetically bleak, triste and compelling. As a solo act, her guitar playing and vocals come across as more than simply two things. The guitar by itself is sometimes sparing, sometimes distortion driven, but with the addition of her dynamic vocals the combination has a range of sound that engages your full attention with its depth. Complement that with her band and the intensity ramps up for a cranking, grungy brand of her already heady sound.
Her song But I want more is the story of her Father’s battle with Parkinson’s Disease, and is a profoundly sad and moving tale told through his eyes:
Video credit: Stone Church
Her album Through the Window was conceived and created during the pandemic and released in August of 2023, and she’s been touring on and off both solo and with her band ever since. The album was released on vinyl in August 2024 on Exploding in Sound Records, around the anniversary of its debut.
Top to bottom it’s a fully three dimensional work, with good helpings of spooky, folk-styled storytelling, guitar heavy grunge, and experimental noise rock, with her trademark haunting vocals leading the way throughout. Between its willingness to go to dark places and the fearless ambition for unconventional song structures and sound, the eight track LP is a bold first effort that listens like abstract art, leaving a distinct impression with its smouldering, melancholy vibes.
This live performance of Perfect World from The Knitting Factory has all the elements of her lyrical venom and signature slow burn, gradually building and getting its hooks into you:
Video credit Jarrett Wolfson
Izzy’s propensity to tackle difficult themes like human greed, environmental disaster and death impart her music with a visceral honesty and moxie that confront the listener with often discomfiting truths. In doing so, I prefer to think that rather than trying to shock her audience, she is allowing us a glimpse at her experiences and perspective, laying bare things that are so much easier swept under our collective rugs so that we might learn something and maybe even grow. That, to me, is the essence of art.
She’s got a couple upcoming appearances at Boston Fuzztival with the full band on 10/19 and solo at Iceland Airwaves on 11/8. Her album Through the Window is available digitally and now on vinyl through her Bandcamp page and in person at her shows.*
Additionally, I have it on good authority that there’s new music forthcoming, so keep your eyes and ears open. Follow her IG page @prewn_music for the latest updates.
Check out some other Izzy/Prewn reviews and articles here:
*All in-person album purchases come with a logo-engraved nail clipper/bottle opener keychain that Izzy refers to as a 2-in-1 tool that will change your life. I disagree that it’s a 2-in-1 tool because in addition to being a Life-Changing** nail clipper and bottle opener, IT’S ALSO A KEYCHAIN.
**The claim that the clippers are ‘Life Changing’ has been tested and verified by me.
Good stuff, she reminds me of both Conor Oberst and Jeff Mangum.