Wilder Maker (ft. Felicia Douglass) - "A Professional”

Back in 2018, Wilder Maker released Zion, a spacious, vibrant, experimental pop epic that despite only being seven songs, spanned a whopping 45 minutes in runtime. Their playful lack of restraint and full embrace of the long-form format made the record endlessly immersive, with each textured track perfectly blending into the next. It was in my regular rotation for quite a while following its release. 

Wilder Maker's newest single, “A Professional,” is a remarkable collaboration with one of the most striking voices in independent music, Felicia Douglass. Douglass has certainly wowed many through various outlets, including Gemma, and more recently, Dirty Projectors (I especially loved her anchoring vocals on “Lose Your Love”). Her performance on “A Professional” is par for the course. It’s effortless, velvety, and allows Wilder Maker to change things up a bit stylistically. It’s definitely more soulful and structurally precise when compared with the songs on Zion.

Thematically, “A Professional” dips into the feeling of digital isolation. Principal songwriter Gabriel Birnbaum explained that the song explores “the way the physical world has become less real and more ghostly, less mysterious and more quantifiable. It's inspired by this recurring experience I have, usually traveling, where I’ve been alone all day and I suddenly want to connect very badly with people I care about. I fire off several texts and sit there waiting for the phone to light up, with this strange feeling that everyone I know might have vanished.  As soon as I imagined Felicia singing this song, I knew she’d be perfect for it, and she was. I'm so happy and grateful she was able to do it.”

Stream the track below.

“A Professional” will appear on Wilder Maker’s forthcoming album, Male Models, which is set for release on July 29th via Western Vinyl. You can pre-order the record on limited vinyl via Bandcamp. You can also stream the band’s music on your platform of choice. Keep up with the band by following them on Instagram.