By Carolina Carmo
Photo by Micah E Wood
Puddled’s frontwoman Naomi Davidoff faces change without fear, basking and learning from the strangeness of something new. The band’s self-titled EP—out now on Crafted Sounds—is a swirling, scratchy debut, replete with meditations on relationships, endings and liminal time. On “Between,” the project’s lead single, Davidoff is “passing windows new to me” while contemplating a move back to her Pennsylvanian hometown. In her homecoming, she expresses gratitude from working within a community of friends in the Philadelphia scene.
In our post-Thanksgiving chat, Davidoff talked about Puddled’s first tour supporting the EP, as well as reflecting on the alternative grunge rock DIY communities she’s been a part of and how (maybe) she’ll be screaming in the band’s next record.
Catch Puddled live in Philadelphia on Davidoff’s birthday, Jan. 26, at The Abyssinia and on Jan. 27 at The Undercroft in Baltimore.
Let’s talk about the video we’re debuting. How was the Atlas show in September?
It was great. That was our fourth night of tour, we were celebrating our first EP, so that was very exciting, and that was also our first tour. We played with some awesome bands, our friends Natural Velvet came down from Baltimore, Mieke from D.C. and Candy Weather. They were all fantastic, it was just super fun. We were excited to take our EP to other places, you know, expand the reach of the album.
The band’s based in both Baltimore and Philly, do you think those cities are uplifting DIY scenes and making space for Puddled?
I think both of them are really welcoming. And Baltimore especially has been great. I’m from the suburbs of Philly, but I was living in Baltimore for 14 years, so I got to really dig my feet into the music scene there. And each of the members of Puddled are also in other bands. So it’s nice that we have that community of support. And because it’s a small town, everyone you know kind of lifts each other up. Baltimore definitely feels like home base for us.
I moved to Philly in 2023 for a job and to be closer to my parents. Coming back has been a great homecoming. When I left, there was a really strong music scene, definitely the house show scene was super strong, and it’s been fun to come back. Houses are still making it happen, especially in West Philly and South Philly. It’s been cool to learn about all the bands developing the sound in Philly, I think Philly has a very specific sound. And I think both my roots there and and then my influences from living in Baltimore have really changed the way I write music. And sort of solidified my roots in both cities.
Do you think Puddled fits into that specific Philly sound? Or do you think you’ve pulled too far into the Baltimore side, or that you’re kind of playing in the middle ground?
I would say middle ground. Like, I love some of the underground music coming out of Philly, especially like, Greg Mendez, They Are Gutting a Body of Water, you know, Blue Smiley, and then newer bands, like Hooky and Sun Organ. Snoozer is great. So there’s definitely like, a developed sound.
In Baltimore there’s local bands that I love that have a similar sound. But one thing I’ve always felt sets us apart is taking these influences, rolling with them and making something a little different. Like keeping the sentiment and the nostalgia, but then pushing it forward with heavy fuzz and resounding guitar solos, building something a little bit bigger. And I think we did a really good job with our album, just sort of doing a little more than what we can do live. And, you know, pulling in some of our friends to help get that big swirling sound that we want.
We recorded at Headroom in Philadelphia, with my buddy Mark Watter. He did a fantastic job, and it was really fun to work with him. I know him from high school, so it was nice to reconnect with old friends and people I used to play and book shows with and build community with. And coming back to Philly, it was just great to have these different collaborators and all their talents helping us produce something really awesome.
I love the homecoming aspect of it, it’s sweet. But the album is clearly so much about transition and change. You captured that feeling well in the music.
I wrote most of the album in 2021 and 2022, and it’s about relationships. It’s about, you know, ‘What do we do?’ And we’re recontextualizing our identity in a sense of place. Like, how do you push forward?
But also, I’m somewhat of an optimist. So even though the songs are looking back, I also feel like, when I was writing them, I was thinking a lot about pushing forward. How do I build this new sense of identity when a big chapter of life has closed? What does that mean for myself, and how can I make change happen?
So it was definitely a therapeutic process for me. But when you sing something enough times you can step back from it and look at it in a new way, like a third-party perspective. That’s the biggest thing I love about writing music. You sing things long enough and repeat something that hurt you and through screaming into a microphone, you can process it and get through it. And I think the next record will probably look very different, but this one was really important for me to just get out those feelings and have an outlet to sing with my friends, play music with my friends, and meditate on how to move forward with my life. The biggest thing for me is getting this music out there and feeling like maybe through these songs I can help other people relate who might be going through the same thing.
It sounds like so much of this project, and your way of approaching making music is based on community and working with friends.
Yeah, that’s the biggest thing. I mean, that’s the way anything happens, you know. I’m a strong believer in creating something out of nothing with a big group of people. Like the sum of its parts are always better with more people involved. I think a friend of mine once said, “All great artists have a team.” I’m pretty lucky to have a really fantastic team that picks up the vision really quickly and contribute their talents. Jesse and Laura and Kyle from Puddled are fantastic to work with, and they just kind of get it, you know. That’s something really special and I feel pretty grateful to be able to play with them.
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