A Midsummer Daydream With WET

Fresh From a New Album Release, the New York Indie Pop Duo Joins SSENSE Upstate

Interview: Romany Williams
Photography: Mat+Kat / The Industry Management

Even though Dobbs Ferry is only 1.5 hours from Brooklyn, it’s WET’s first time visiting. It was here that SSENSE met the indie-pop duo on a local estate along the Hudson River. Comprised of Kelly Zutrau and Joe Valle, WET is fresh off of the release of their highly praised sophomore studio album, Still Run. “I’m assuming this is where the luckiest people in New York end up living,” says Zutrau of Dobbs Ferry. “You’re so close to the city but it feels like magical countryside.” Sonically, the countryside suits WET—on Still Run, small town naivety mixes with the serenity of overcoming hardship, like a break-up, or a long distance move.

Kelly Zutrau wears Miu Miu earrings. Featured In Top Image: Prada button down shirt, Prada trousers and Miu Miu earrings.

For the vinyl release of Still Run, Zutrau, a Cooper Union trained painter, and Valle, an NYU grad, included 100 custom-illustrated liner notes depicting Zutrau’s original artwork and handwritten lyrics. They were surprised when most of the people that bought the record sent thank you notes or posted them online. “Those are the little moments that I’m trying to find more of in music because when you’re on a major label and you’re in a world of huge corporations, you can kind of get lost in something on such a big scale,” said Zutrau. “I’m really trying to zoom in on those little moments where you remember why it’s meaningful.”

The countryside is a standard destination for city dwellers in search of meaning or enlightenment, even. With their new album, it’s apparent the duo are getting closer to finding the confidence to express themselves, not just lyrically but stylistically. Photographers Mat+Kat captured WET while they explored the rural property, plunging into the pool and climbing trees in Gucci tights. Which makes sense—climbing trees and lying in the grass under the summer sun in upstate New York is the perfect way to digest Still Run.