Photos by Lauren Kim
No two projects from Water From Your Eyes sound the same. The only throughline in the two-piece band’s discography is their funky spirit and dedication to experimentation.
The dance-pop/art rock band was formed by vocalist Rachel Brown and producer Nate Amos. The pair met in Chicago, were once lovers but are now best friends, and are now based in Brooklyn.
Outside of Water From Your Eyes, both Amos and Brown pedal multiple bands: Brown releases music as Thanks For Coming, while Amos produces for My Idea and directs his solo project, This is Lorelei, which has recently been met with widespread critical acclaim.
Together, Amos and Brown make music that feels far greater than the sum of its parts. WFYE’s signature sound mixes electronic with 60s-70s rock and pop, creating a kaleidoscopic soundscape challenging genre conventions and listener perspectives. Since signing with Matador Records in 2023, the duo has expanded into a four-piece live band featuring Amos’ partner Al Nardo on guitar and longtime friend Bailey Wollowitz on drums.
The now decade-old band shares a label roster with legacy acts like Sonic Youth singer Kim Gordon and British rising stars bar italia, and has toured alongside Interpol, Snail Mail, and Geese. Most recently, they performed two opening sets for Hayley Williams at the Wiltern before performing back-to-back shows at Zebulon. Despite the grueling schedule, the band was determined to end their four-show, three-day marathon with a bang.
Their sold-out show opened with “Born 2,” off their 2025 album It’s a Beautiful Place. The album was recorded by Amos in his bedroom and marks a noticeable departure from their largely electronic production in favor of guitar-forward arrangements. Their new sound translated well into a live show, highlighting “Born 2”’s bittersweet instrumentals.
Brown stepped onstage wearing dark sunglasses, delivering lyrics with a detached coolness. Although Brown’s stage presence comes with an air of insouciance, It’s A Beautiful Place is anything but emotionally distant. In an interview for NME, Brown and Amos explain that the album is an exploration of existence itself. “I think we both find a sense of solace in accepting the fact that we as a species don’t understand as much as we like to think we do,” Amos admits. The album represents the duo’s search for meaning, uncovering pockets of joy amidst life’s enormity.
Politics remains inseparable from the DNA of Water From Your Eyes, which rang true through their performance of “Barley.” The song is one of the defining tracks from the band’s 2023 album, Everyone’s Crushed. “Barley”’s dissociative lyrics capture the exhausting Sisyphean quest to climb the ranks of the music industry, and more broadly, within capitalism itself.
The album grapples with feelings of burnout and entrapment within the system. Everyone’s Crushed was recorded during low points for both Brown and Amos: Brown working long hours assisting on film sets, and Amos’ struggle with maintaining sobriety.
Three years later, those anxieties still shape the band’s work. During the concert, Brown stopped to acknowledge the ongoing genocides in Palestine and Congo, reiterating that making music remains an act of resistance even when the violence feels ceaseless. They wore a keffiyeh onstage, tying it around the mic stand for the remainder of the night. The visuals behind Brown projected manipulated surveillance footage and distorted landscapes – every detail traced back to the notion that every decision we make is political. Water From Your Eye’s discography continually challenges assumptions– from what music can sound like to what the band is capable of, and what art can communicate during political collapse and social exhaustion.
The band closed out the night with a cover of “Creep”. Brown joked, “I was kidding when I asked the people at Zebulon to print out the lyrics for me… But they take good care of me here.” The performance was loose and affectionate: Brown danced with Al Nardo, passed the mic to Nate, and laughed with the audience. The band fully leaned into the song’s melodrama without an air of seriousness.
That sense of humor has always been central to WFYE: before making music, Brown aspired to be a comedy screenwriter. The band’s work maintains an unpredictable absurdism, from cryptic lyrics to playful editorial photoshoots featuring bowling alleys and matching T-shirts. As Water From Your Eyes searches for light in the chaos, they remind their audiences that humor and despair can be good friends.
Check out Water From Your Eyes’ latest release!
