VINES – I’ll Be Here – LP – Vinyl [AUG 1]

LP – Black Vinyl.

Vines, the solo project of New York-based multi-instrumentalist and composer Cassie Wieland, offers a window into her inner world through expansive swaths of sound. She pieces together a celestial mix of synths, percussion, strings, and vocoded voice, making music that is at once deeply personal and cinematic in scope. This diaristic approach first took shape with her 2023 EP Birthday Party, and is crystallized on her debut LP, Ill be here. With the sweeping and vulnerable Ill be here, Vines arrives fully formed as an artist who crafts deeply resonant and open musicthe kind that invites listeners in to listen, reflect, and share in the journey of learning through living.

It was through making music that I was able to meet myself, Wieland said. Anything Im going through or feeling is something that somebody else out there can relate to, and thats really special to me.

Ill be here is both a culmination of years spent creating gossamer soundscapes and an opening to a new journey for Wieland as an artist. The album grew out of her years as a composer and songwriter, and builds on the language she developed on Birthday Party, which transformed the tumultuous feelings of the passing of time into minimalist meditations. It was just a start, thougha prologue, a development of the kind of language and ideas she wanted to express. With Ill be here, she digs deeper and writes music that feels more sprawling, further solidifying her singular voice.

Wielands musical composition process is similar to journaling, lending itself to the musics honesty. When she writes, she makes room for all the ideas she has; in these sessions, there are no wrong ideas, and she allows the music to be attuned to the experiences shes having at the time. With Ill be here, Wieland zeroes in on themes of anxiety, loneliness, navigating human connection, and having to grow up from a young age, ultimately coming to a place of acceptance. And though it began as a journal written in solitude, her collaborators shape the music with her.

Working with friends, in fact, was a crucial part of bringing the record to life. Everything that was supposed to happen came together so easily because of the people involved, Wieland said. Ill be here was co-produced and recorded with Wielands longtime collaborator Mike Tierney, a four time Grammy-nominated engineer who has worked with artists across the contemporary classical and experimental scene like minimalist pioneer Steve Reich, LAs preeminent classical ensemble Wild Up, and various bands on Bang on a Cans Cantaloupe Music label. Percussionist and composer Adam Holmes and violinist Adrianne Munden-Dixon are two other longtime collaborators who are frequent fixtures of her live show. Holmes plays synths, drums, and banjo; in live settings, his kit is loaded with elements of the songs that are then triggered by MIDI, making the music an interactive, evolving experience. The albums gentle, filamented edges are coloured by Munden-Dixon, whose poignant string melodies elevate Wielands introspective compositions, as well as cellist Helen Newby, saxophonists Julian Velasco and Jordan Lulloff, and bassist Pat Swoboda.

Wieland takes an economic approach to writing music, building the swirling and immersive landscapes of Vines through short melodies, lyrics, and phrases. As each element layers and interweaves, they grow into sprawling webs of ghostly sound. Prior to Vines, Wieland composed pieces for other people to play using a minimalists sensibility, writing slowly unfolding melodies for instruments like violin and saxophone. In recent years, she sharpened her solo style across a variety of singles and covers which have garnered significant attention on social media for their emotional resonance (being loved isn’t the same as being understood in particular went massively viral on TikTok in 2024). Birthday Party, her debut as Vines, brought her writing to a much more intimate space, centering on her vocoded voice cloaked in feathery reverb. A series of recent singles, meanwhile, including I am my home, showcase the way that Wielands music is born from the story of her innermost feelings, extending far beyond just the self.

Though Wielands music often deals with dark themes, it unfolds with tender melancholy, the kind that feels like a warm embrace. On Evicted, Wieland wonders if shes getting sick or moving on, if shes lost or found. Her vocals expand with each lyrical repetition, as the instrumentals slowly encircle and the musics rhythm grows and bursts into a heart-wrenching, yet radiant wave reminiscent of post-rock bands like Explosions in the Sky. Tired follows a similar trajectory, building from a looping, melancholy rhythm and floating lyrics into a solemn resignation. Elsewhere, Wieland takes a more ruminative approach: Omw begins with twinkling piano and melancholy strings that gradually transform into an undulating mass. It is a song born out of the warm feeling of reminiscence, the slight return of hope that comes with nostalgia.

With any searching journey, there is also a point of understanding. The title track closes the album with the freedom of acceptance. A marching drum beats steadily beneath Wielands open vocals, moving forward, ever onward as it flies into the ether. In Wielands delicately textured music, there is room to come into yourself, and learn to love whomever that is. Ill be here is a special space that can be all your own, one in which to feel what needs to be felt. This is music for your story, Wieland said. I want you to use it how you need it.

– Vanessa Ague

Tracklist:

Side A
1. Im getting sick
2. Evicted
3. Weve made it this far
4. Undercurrent
5. King of swords

Side B
1. Omw
2. Happy is hard
3. Tired
4. Keep driving
5. Ill be here