On the Rise
she's green

As the world rumbles by, this little plant takes its time to gently actualise, growing with a natural, quiet pace. It is in these patient, tranquil moments that Zofia Smith finds inspiration for the lyrics she sings in the Minneapolis outfit she’s green. 

“I feel like [nature’s] just such a big part of our writing process. When we’re writing, I like to imagine I’m somewhere outside,” Smith recounts of how she channels vocals and lyrics. Completed by Liam Armstrong and Raines Lucas on guitar, Teddy Nordvold on bass, and Kevin Seebeck on the drums, the group is shrouded in nature in every way – aesthetically, they are soft and dreamy, moving in and out of lush grass and leaves; sonically, she’s green combines a verdant mesh of star-dazey shoegaze with the tender-hearted vocals akin to Mazzy Star and Cocteau Twins.

Much like their muse, she’s green came together organically. “We were honestly just having fun, just messing around and diving into multiple genres at the time,” Smith notes about playing music with Armstrong, her roommate and bandmate. “We could just sit there and write for hours, honestly. We’d just laugh and write songs. I think just good and fun energy was a perfect place for things to blossom.” After crossing paths at local DIY shows, the band fell together naturally. There wasn't one single eureka moment when they joined forces. “I feel like you end up meeting so many people, but you don’t even know how you actually met them,” Lucas adds, laughing.

Reflecting on the vibrant DIY circuit in their hometown, Armstrong notes, “We just wanted to try playing shows in Minneapolis too. We had these demoed songs already done, just got a few friends together and started playing shows, just 'cause we wanted to see what it was like. And we just kept doing it.” 

It’s clear the quintet have an inherent connection. “We’re all homogenising into one super-being,” Armstrong laughs. As if melding a mycorrhizal network, some fully fleshed out tracks seem to stem from the hum of a few theoretical chords. Once, while staying in a cabin together, Smith wandered out to a hot tub for a break. Sitting alone, she sang to herself three simple notes, only to rush back to the rest of the crew with an eager excitement. “They were like, ‘Okay, well that’s three notes…’” Smith smiles. Lucas adds, “That one turned into a banger. It takes a little faith.”

A little faith can go a long way. With previous self-produced releases wisteria and chrysalis already out in the world, the band's latest EP swallowtail sets a new tone. she’s green have been exploring fuzzy sonic landscapes since 2022, embracing their DIY core through homemade recordings. “It was all over the place,” Armstrong says about the process, jumping from bedroom to college radio station, “but never in a professional studio.” After some years of recording in “just a bunch of small rooms,” as Smith says, she’s green has blossomed into an entirely new sound. Working in studio with producer Sonny DiPerri – who has produced the likes of DIIV and julie – swallowtail explores she’s green’s expansive spirit in a new and polished light.

Working with DiPerri allowed for the band to express and explore with full freedom to be themselves. “It was awesome,” Armstrong recalls. “We spent some time overdubbing stuff at Sonny’s home studio, in this building in his backyard. We were just hanging out in the yard in the sun, just being able to go in and out whenever we wanted. It felt very fluid and free.” When it came Smith’s time to record vocals, Deperri opened the curtain to the studio’s big sliding glass door. Smith asked if they could open the door, so she could feel the breeze while she sang, and DiPerri didn’t hesitate. “That was the sweetest environment to record all the vocals in,” she says.

Armstrong explains how one track, “empty house”, morphed from its demo version into the final product, noting that the original was bigger, with a full band arrangement. “We played an acoustic set on the Mississippi River and that really just inspired us to strip it back a little bit,” he says about the deeply compelling track. With Smith’s melancholic voice at the forefront, the acoustic guitar brings forth a quiet kind of intimacy. The music video for the track is sombre, slowly zooming out from a shelf in an empty home as the band performs, only to leave the house vacant by the end.

Gradually growing, she’s green has made sure to stay true to their foundation. And sometimes that foundation is the simplest part – stripping away what gets cluttered through time. With slow, serene songs like “close your eyes” and the dreamy, lilting lulls of “paper thin”, she’s green’s core is imbued by the natural. 

Maintaining a sense of simplicity and stillness is paramount. With the band on tour more than ever, it can be easy to get swept up in the fast pace and anxiety of the world today. “When we’re on tour, we really try to get out and see some national parks and some waterfalls. It definitely keeps us sane. It keeps your soul sane,” Smith says with a smile. “There’s so many things distracting us. But I think to be creative, we have to find a way to feed our consciousness and our soul.” That's something we should all make time for, and she's green are here to help.