Boy Willows

Landon Fleischman was overjoyed to hear that his pre-NYC photoshoot face mask was packed with lavender. “I’m obsessed with lavender,” he explained, slathering the product on his face. “I painted my whole room lavender, bed frame, I have a lavender shag rug, I have this lavender owl, it’s all due to my mom.”

After a couple of weeks of a tough living situation at his now-alma mater, the University of Southern California, he hopped on a call with his mother. “This super super loud guy was very inconsiderate and always encroaching on my space. I felt very trapped in my room. I was on the phone with my mom and she asked what color I see when I meditate, imagine seeing that color making a buffer around you. I always saw lavender, and that was definitely a catalyst, especially for the Boy Willows project. I really embraced that vibe.”

Rockville, Maryland native Fleischman debuted the BOY WILLOWS project with “I’m Good” at the tail end of 2016, a dreamy tune about a one-sided relationship. Most of the lyrics of his tracks, including the songs from his first EP, Woods at Night (2018) draw inspiration from his relationships, platonic, romantic and familial. His tight knit family has given him wonderful perspective on human connection. “Growing up with that [close knit family], and still having that taught me pretty early on that my favorite part of living is connecting and being with people. It just makes everything so much better and life worth living.”

In fact, “Floral, What They Do”, off Woods at Night, is based on another conversation with his mother. “Basically it's the story of the scorpion and the rabbit trying to cross the river – the scorpion wants to ride on the back of the rabbit and the rabbit is afraid it would be stung. The scorpion explains that that would be silly because then they would both die. Then they get across the river and a scorpion stings the rabbit and the rabbit asks, “Why would you do that?” and the scorpion says, “I'm a scorpion, it’s what I do.” So my mom was telling me a story in reference to somebody in my life and just said, ‘It's just what they do,’ so I was like, ‘What they do! Yeah!’”

Woods at Night chronicles a personal journey for Fleischman, all about transition, connection and identity. The instrumental opening track, cheekily titled “Skip This”, simply tells the story of his West Coast move through sound. Voice Memo recordings of airplane terminal chatter, footsteps and rental cars all build to the opening of the next track “Flawlessa.”

The whole release has the classic Boy Willows floaty, effortless sound to it. The delicacy of the soundscape could almost be described as feminine, which Fleischman takes as a compliment. “Growing up in Rockville, Maryland and being a more feminine man in high school, it wasn’t the most celebrated thing probably,” he says. “But it was also something that I realized that my preferences and tendencies are slightly more feminine and the way I emote. I think a lot of being feminine is being more colorful, which is just objectively better, to be honest, just a more fun way to live.” While it’s easy to chat about the songwriting or production process — “I have this spiderweb of a million different vocal takes spread out across seven tracks. There's always a live and a MIDI version of each instrument. I have a song and I know how I want it to go and then from there it's just tons and tons of pieces of little ear candy” — a real challenge in New York is describing a project to an Uber driver, a challenge Landon encountered multiple times over the weekend.

I asked him to rise to the challenge again in a more low stakes environment. “I almost cried once when an Uber driver was so rude to me after I tried to describe my music. She asked me to describe my music and I gave this whole long-winded thing about the kind of music I like and whatnot, and she just goes, ‘Honey, I stopped listening half way through – you have to figure out how to speak to people!’ Now I would say indieelectronic-folk. And then they say, ‘What?’ And then they’re like who do you sound like? And I say ‘Slenderbodies.’ And they say who? And then I say ‘Kanye. I sound like Kanye.’ Maybe Ben Harper? Or, yikes, Ed Sheeran.”

This sense of humor is something that marks a difference between Landon Fleischman and Boy Willows. The idea of mystery, from his background to his songwriting, is something that Fleischman considers not only sexy, but vital. To fall in love with a character allows for a listener to take that character and project various ideas and perceptions that fans ordinarily wouldn’t do to the average person. He explains, “I can be whatever you want me to be. It’s an exploration of the human condition, I’m a canvas and people can use me to project their experiences. It doesn’t make me mad to be misunderstood, because it’s not about me.”

I can be whatever you want me to be."

STORY & PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRISTINA CASILLO