Biography

Borrowing from both their classical-music training and early forays into indie rock, Verdigrls’ Anna and Catherine Wolk have been crafting their unique sound since grade school. The Connecticut-bred sisters left their rural childhood home for the crowded streets of New York and began working at songs that would become their debut EP, 2014’s Heartbreak Hour. On their latest effort, Small Moves, they manage to tuck their introverted brand of bedroom pop neatly into place, the way one only can after living in shoebox apartments in Bushwick, Brooklyn and Ridgewood, Queens. The latter was where they recorded most of the EP, a dreamy macramé of Broken Social Scene–style string arrangements, melancholy electronica, and sweet, breathy vocals reminiscent of Cocteau Twins’ Elizabeth Fraser. The sisters looked to everyone from Virginia Woolf to The Cranberries to The Organ for inspiration, then took a page from Grimes’s songbook by producing the EP on their own over the course of four years. Though vulnerable, Verdigrls’ DIY music is far from defeated. Over the course of their EP, Anna and Catherine make honest attempts to understand the world, even when fear, depression, and anxiety sometimes hinders their ability to explore it. Restrained vocals find height on swells of violin and cello, somber synths find light among self-aware lyrics—it’s a delicate balance the sisters instinctively provide each other, showing how they continue to tinker with the world they’ve built together.