Musician Aby Wolf on collaboration, people-pleasing and her surprise EP

[ABBY WOLFE, "91 OUT"] (SINGING) Possible possibility.

CATHY WURZER: Climate anxiety, interconnectedness, collective action, they're all part of Minneapolis musician Abby Wolfe's newest EP, which she released by surprise on Bandcamp on Friday. This is Abby's fourth solo release. But she is well-known as a collaborator in the scene, with folks like Dessa and The New Standards, among many, many others. She even co-wrote our theme song for Minnesota Now. And I'm so happy that Abby is on the line. Hey, thanks for being here, Abby. And congratulations on the new EP.

ABBY WOLFE: Hi, Cathy. Thank you so much for the invitation to come and chat with you.

CATHY WURZER: Let me ask you about "91 Out," the new EP. What's the inspiration behind, first, the song, and then the EP?

ABBY WOLFE: Yeah, so the song "91 Out" is the third track. When I started off with this project-- the EP is called Dream Fruit-- I wanted to explore my own sense of climate anxiety. I mean, I know a lot of us have a lot of fear like-- a lot of fear and anxiety about what humans are doing to the planet, what our daily choices are adding up to, what can we do about it. There's not easy answers to these questions.

So I wanted a place to put some of those feelings. And as I got started, I realized that there's so much heaviness that I felt in my body, that what I wanted to do also was find a way to bring some levity. And remember that we, as humans, we have such huge capacity to work together with a huge amount of energy and joy. And I just really wanted to focus that and shine some light on that.

CATHY WURZER: Good. I want to listen to another song from the EP. And this is called "At Bat." We played it yesterday. We're going to play it again today.

[ABBY WOLFE, "AT BAT"]

(SINGING) Oh, dishes wait. I got cider all over the kitchen floor. And dinners late. Oh, too old to do encore, encore. You have to pull a rabbit from a hat.

That might sound a little familiar to listeners. Yeah, we did play this for the Minnesota Music Minute. So we had, Abby, just a little bit of a preview of it on the program. Talk about this one.

ABBY WOLFE: Yeah, that's right. Thanks so much for featuring that song on your Minnesota Music Minute. That song, "At Bat," what I had running through my mind was the tendency that I often find myself feeling, to respond to an invitation or an opportunity with the sense of like, oh, I've got to meet these conditions, I have to hit these targets, and do something that exists within all these parameters because I'm kind of a people pleaser.

And so what that feels is like, I don't want to have to manufacture a new me in response to everything around me all the time. And so what I'm saying with this song is like, you don't have to do that. What you can do is just show up, just share your gifts. Just show up and open your eyes, and go like, and you're up, it's your turn. Go get it. [LAUGHS]

CATHY WURZER: Right, exactly. By the way, has that been working for you? I think it has, just based on your success.

[LAUGHTER]

ABBY WOLFE: Well, thanks. I think so, yeah. I like to I like to write things into existence, I guess. That's how I take steps forward in the world. I have to make something come from an internal place to an external place. And if I can see it, and hear it, and have other people also see it and hear it, then it sort of helps to make those inclinations more real.

CATHY WURZER: Yes I understand what you're talking about. Say, talk to me about your skills as a collaborator, which I bet I can take some lessons from you. It must be-- give me an idea of how you work with someone like Dessa or The New Standards. How is that relationship?

ABBY WOLFE: Yeah. Well, relationship is totally the right word, Cathy. I think I really enjoy the fact that working with other creative people is really relationship building for me. And the more you work together with someone, the stronger those communication skills become. I've worked with Dessa for so many years, and same thing with The New Standards. I really, really, really enjoy-- I enjoy responding.

I mean, it's kind of back to what I was talking about with "At Bat." I love responding to the ideas of other people. And I think that one of my strongest skill sets involves that kind of responding. Bouncing ideas around is really fun for me. I mean, Dessa has got a billion ideas, as anyone out there is probably familiar with. So it's super fun to have some technical ideas to respond to other folks.

CATHY WURZER: Now, part of this segment is asking musicians to share a song from another artist that's inspiring them. And you sent this one from Caroline-- is it-- Polachek?

ABBY WOLFE: Polachek, I think.

CATHY WURZER: Polachek. Thank you. We're going to talk about this. But this song is called "Bunny Is a Writer."

[ABBY WOLFE, "BUNNY IS A WRITER"]

(SINGING) Bunny is a rider. Satellite can't find her. No sympathy, ain't nothing for free. Bunny is a rider. Satellite can't find her. No sympathy, ain't nothing for free. Bunny is a rider. No sympathy, ain't nothing. Bunny is a, Bunny is a, a rider.

I'm kind of feeling a little bit of Abby Wolfe in this song. That just might be me. So what do you love about this music?

ABBY WOLFE: Oh, this record Caroline Polachek just dropped, I think, a couple of months ago, it's just so good. It's so big. It has so much energy. It's playful. That song in particular, it's so much fun. It's like solid indie art pop. When I listen to that record, I was like, that's it. Whatever the full recipe of what she's doing with her team on that record is like, that's what I want to make. I want to make stuff that feels like this. I love that song.

CATHY WURZER: I like it too. You are interesting to me because you-- [LAUGHTER] you're kind of like a genre chameleon, in a good way. I mean, because you can go, you can work across all kinds of genres, I think. So I'm curious about your background. What kind of music did you listen to, growing up?

ABBY WOLFE: Oh. Well yeah, thanks. I listen to a lot of-- actually, I grew up in a rural area. So there weren't a whole lot of radio options. There was Top 40, which is basically what all my classmates and everybody, my whole community listened to. My mom played a lot of New Age and adult contemporary stuff, so a lot of instrumental, like piano instrumentals and stuff.

So I feel like what I-- I mean, the last couple of years, especially during COVID, I went back to school, and I was doing a lot of virtual learning. And so what I got really into was almost exclusively a diet of ambient Japanese electronic instrumental music, like Hiroshi Yoshimura, et cetera, et cetera. So I really love stuff that doesn't have lyrics actually, which is kind of funny because what makes me feel the most creatively at home is being a vocalist.

CATHY WURZER: Oh, that's interesting. OK. I mentioned, of course, you're a great collaborator. And I think before we go here and end our discussion, people need to know and they might not know is that Lizzo got her start opening for you at 7th St Entry. Oh my gosh. And that was what, February 2013? I love that story.

ABBY WOLFE: It's pretty amazing to think back. Yeah, that was just about almost exactly 10 years ago, I think. I think that was one of Lizzo's very first solo shows. Unbelievable. I just keep losing my mind over and over and over to just watch her continue to ascend, such an inspiration. And yeah, we did get to play a couple of shows together in the 7th St Entry way back.

CATHY WURZER: Are you two still in touch at all?

ABBY WOLFE: Oh, not so much, not directly. I mean, I think I probably like and volley most of her Instagram posts. But yeah, just so happy for her and her team, Sophia Eris, just killing it.

CATHY WURZER: No kidding. Oh my gosh. OK, so when is your next show? What are you looking forward to?

ABBY WOLFE: [LAUGHS] Oh, yeah. You know, I'm really looking forward to a collaborative show with my good buddy, Eric Mason. We are going to be joining Kith and Kin Chorus for their season finale at the Cedar Cultural Center, Saturday, April 29. That's a community choir, it's like 70 people. It's led by Rachel Reese. And Eric and I are going to be their sort of featured guest, so we'll play a set. And then, the choir is learning a couple of our duo songs to do together. I'm so pumped. That's at the Cedar.

CATHY WURZER: Nice. Oh, I love that. Well, by the way, thank you again for co-writing our theme music. That was a great experience.

ABBY WOLFE: That was such a joy. I got to work with Joe Horton, and Patrick. Yeah, we sat around and plunked around on a piano for that. Yeah, thanks so much.

CATHY WURZER: We love that. Of course, and I know zero about music. And so I would hear these little bits of music, and my producer, Melissa, would say, what'd you think? It was an experience for me. So thank you, I appreciate it.

ABBY WOLFE: Oh yes, thank you.

CATHY WURZER: And Thank you for being with us today, Abby.

ABBY WOLFE: Thanks a lot for having me. I really appreciate it too.

CATHY WURZER: Abby Wolfe is a Minneapolis-based musician. You can listen to her new EP on Bandcamp at abywolf, that's abywolf.bandcamp.com. And Arts Programming, a reminder here, is sponsored on MPR News and made possible in part by the Minnesota Legacy Amendments Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. Abby is fantastic. I'm so glad she was on the program.