Way back in November, Wicca Phase Springs Eternal linked up with producer Darcy Baylis for a one-off single “Hardcore” which proved both darker and dancier than most of what could be found on Adam McIlwee’s Will Yip co-produced LP Suffer On, released earlier in 2019. But a couple weeks ago it was announced that the rapper would be including the track in a full EP of collaborative tracks with Baylis entitled The Moment I Miss, which drops today.
Though the WPSE sound has become immediately recognizable, Baylis’ contributions stretch the Goth Boi Clique member’s boundaries to experiment with ideas borrowed from every genre imaginable: witch house, punk, and slowcore, just to name a few of the reference points the duo share. The result is something wholly unique, even within the Wicca Phase discography—stream the project yourself below, and read on for what the pair had to say about creating each individual song.
The Moment I Miss is out today via Run for Cover and Dark Medicine.
Darcy Baylis: This is the most straightforward emo track on the project. I was listening to a lot of sad Future songs around the time I wrote this, and I was trying to capture that nihilistic, melancholic energy of his classic mixtapes with the guitar sound of early Codeine or Mineral.
Wicca Phase: So much of what I’ve been writing has been mid-to-uptempo, and writing to this was like writing to a Wicca Phase song from 2015 where the average BPM was significantly lower. The subject matter is also similar to what I would have written around then—it feels like more of a rap song than anything I’ve written recently, but I guess that’s subjective. It’s like experiencing longing and bragging about it.
2. “Hardcore”
DB: To be honest, I was getting tired of every song in our scene having the exact same Midwestern, late-’90s guitar tone, so I wanted to see what would happen if you paired standard trap drums with a really fuzzy, Melbourne hardcore guitar tone. Luckily it worked out perfectly.
WP: This was the first song Darcy and I worked on together. I asked him if he could make a beat that sounded like Future and Young Thug’s Super Slimey and Rancid’s 2000 self-titled album—really, I just wanted it to sound like this beat. It’s a punk song, also largely inspired by Mackned and Yawns’ song “RIP” and some other recent Yawns-produced GBC songs. I used to think GBC was like a gothic boy band, but I think we’re actually a punk band.
3. “Obsessed”
DB: I’m really proud of this one because I feel like we spent a long time on the arrangement. It has all these nice little twists and turns and I think it’s quite delicate in that sense. It reminds me of Silent Alarm–era Bloc Party.
WP: I am proud of this song, too! The instrumental wasn’t like anything I’d ever written over, as Wicca Phase or any band that I was in—and somehow, that made this song really easy to write. It’s probably the most personal song on this album, lyrically, but I felt like I knew exactly what I wanted to say. That happens so rarely for me, but it usually results in the best songs.
4. “I Want to Go Out Tonight”
DB: This is the witch house song. I wanted to capture the feeling of 2010/2011–era internet music, where everything was washed out and distorted, sampled then re-sampled. I wasn’t expecting Adam to write a song about partying, but it works.
WP: This is the witch house song. The title and chorus came first—and again, that rarely happens, but when it does it makes writing the rest of the lyrics so much easier. Another song about longing masked as a party song.
5. “Pain Killer”
DB: Musically, I was aiming for something halfway between Red House Painters and, like, Deftones. Just something slow and chuggy but with a soaring chorus at the same time. Lyrically, and it’s the only song I wrote lyrics for on this project, it’s quite personal. But I’m sure if you read between the lines the metaphors are quite obvious. Or maybe not. Hopefully not.
WP: In the best way, I feel like I’m the feature on this Darcy Baylis song. He sent this to me with his chorus already finished, and he has become one of my favorite songwriters, so I just tried to not embarrass myself in the verses.
