Do what you love and love what you do.
That’s the approach the band Western Affairs seems to take when it comes to music.
AU student Alex Lee and Yorktown High School students Davis Connors and Andrew Monborne make up the current 3-person lineup.
“It started about 2 years ago but the lineup’s changed a couple times,” said Lee, a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences and a WVAU DJ for the show “We Like Music.”
The band’s small size makes it necessary for the members to multitask. Lee performs vocals and keyboard; Connors plays the guitar, synthesizer and manages digital production; and Monborne plays drums and designs the band’s artwork.
Western Affairs are making their name in the local band community, and recently won the D.C. round of the Next Big Thing Tour, a day-long marathon of over 70 bands at three local venues. They also played WVAU’s Capital Punishment on Feb. 10.
Many who listen to Western Affairs call it “dream pop” but the group describes their sound as “spacious and panoramic” electronica with pop elements, “strong vocal presence and lots of reverb.”
Lee and Connors say they don’t like to assign labels to the music they play because “it would be conceited to claim a certain genre […] we would rather let the audience call it whatever they want.”
The members put emphasis on doing “whatever appeals to [them] at the time” while actively listening to feedback from fans.
Western Affairs’ name was spontaneous, according to Lee, who said he found it while searching through reference books in the library.
Spontaneity also fuels the music production process for the band; songs are constantly being worked on and can be “about anything.”
“The songwriting [process] starts out like a skeleton with an idea, [Alex] adds chord progressions and lyrics, then [Davis] arranges stuff [like the] organs and skin of the skeleton,” Lee said.
Lee and Connors’ musical influences include a diverse range of artists, from mainstream hip-hop to less well-known, elaborately produced acts to artists like Beach House and Toro Y Moi and other local bands. They also expressed a wish to sign with independent record labels, especially ones in D.C., like Sockets or Carpark.
They released a single called “Control” and are currently working on an EP set to be released in spring. You can find out more about Western Affairs by visiting facebook.com/westernaffairsmusic.
thescene@theeagleonline.com
