Hello Readers,
Welcome back to SWT or welcome if this is your first time. We’ve got something special today as both Josh and I are co-writing this premiere. While we typically edit each other’s posts for grammar, etc we typically write separately with our own distinctive style and tone you’ve come to love. Each being mindful of the other, allowing us both to express ourselves without stepping on toes. Or, well, if you’re new, you’ll come to love our writing and advocacy on this site and via our socials. If you dig this combined style, maybe we’ll co-author some more in the future.
Today we’re stoked to premiere the beautifully shot music video for up-and-coming Montreal-based singer-songwriter Roxanne Izzo‘s song “Teresa”, which you can watch below:
The song (whose title references to the Ecstasy of Saint Teresa sculpture that can be found in Cornaro Chapel of the church of Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome) will be featured on her debut album Made, which will be released September 25th via the fabulous Montreal label Hell For Breakfast.
“Made is an album that lies somewhere between post-punk and jangle pop,” the press release continues. “It is an existentialist, observational, and rebellious work. It questions the imperfect system in which we live: ‘What is life if not a lesson learned through the tax of perception?’ With Made, we navigate, with a strange optimism, the themes of solitude, the violence of creation, faith, and maintaining one’s integrity in a decaying world.”
Izzo’s debut EP was 2024’s Misery’s New Postergirl. After you finish this post, we recommend you listen to that and build up excitement for the full-length album. Izzo’s bio on the Hell For Breakfast site introduces her to her future listeners with the following descriptions: “Roxanne Izzo’s world resides somewhere between brash fearlessness and crippling vulnerability. Somewhere between pure blissful innocence and the feeling of having lived thousands of lives. Somewhere between angst and tenderness. And it’s that paradox that manifests itself into the Montreal-based songwriter’s words. Combining existential cynicism with pop sensibility and raw live energy, Roxanne Izzo writes songs for those who will always fall somewhere in between. Those who may never truly be understood — but will keep singing regardless.” On some level, I think we can all relate to that, right? Some wear that mindset on their sleeve and outwardly practice it; others are more reserved, but it is still integral to their core. Right on.
In addition to listening to and loving Izzo’s songs, she shared her love for SWT’s name origins in our first conversation. It’s our favorite version of “Can’t Hardly Wait” too! Which we and others may have discussed a few times. Izzo also shared that she was “deep in my Paul Westerberg hyperfixation when I wrote this song”. Sign us up, Alex, as he got a little deeper into Westerberg’s solo catalog. Soon enough you’ll get to see if you hear an influence.
Talking about the production and crafting of the song and video premiere of “Teresa” which is the lead single off the album, Izzo shared with SWT, that, “Like the rest of my album, it was recorded live at Mixart Studios in Montreal by my band, which includes my brother and primary producer, Max Izzo on guitar, my other brother Alex Izzo on drums and Lawrence Leylekian on bass, engineered by Boris Petrowski, and mixed and mastered by Jack Shirley at The Atomic Garden in California.”
Looking further into how the song sounds, Izzo shared with us, “Despite its brief run time, ‘Teresa’ serves as a seminal introduction to the key themes of my album, as it’s a song about pursuing passion and artistic integrity within a bleak reality. Sonically, the song is bright, energetic, and guitar-driven, drawing influence from college rock and power pop with a fresh lyrical perspective and contemporary edge.” Yes please. We dig it, and we know you will too.
To pull back the curtain even further on the song and its beautifully imperfect video, Josh asked Izzo a few questions. The conversation dives deep into music industry anxieties, the unexpected symbolism of a broken kite in the music video, and her experience bringing the track to life alongside her brothers.
What inspired the song?
This song is essentially about the tension between making art as a spiritual necessity and feeling enlightened by your creative ideas versus the bleak reality of the times we live in and how isolating pursuing passion can feel. As much as it’s very personal, I was also inspired by discourse, both with people I know and what I’ve read online, about how unsustainable creative industries have become and all the anxiety that comes with it.
Which lyrics best convey the theme in the song?
“I’ll handle the fumes if it means I’ll make it / This ground was paved only to engrave / Rocking altruism as a fashion statement / We’re no saints, but I’m Teresa-adjacent”
Or
“I’m only the winner of the games that I create / You can deem it prophecy or call it cursed fate / Through one lens, I’m a loser, another I’m a god / Anonymity’s the only truth, so give it all you’ve got
What was your experience like writing and recording the song? How did recording with your brothers impact your perspective on the song?
This song was written by me on acoustic guitar. As always, I handed it over to my brothers Max (guitar) and Alex (drums) and our bassist Lawrence to make it come to life. We tracked the song alongside the rest of the album live in the studio over the span of 6 days at Mixart Studios in NDG, engineered by Boris Petrowski. None of my perspective is altered other than the fact that I’m elated at how it came together exactly like how I pictured it in my head!
Can you tell me a little bit about the music video for the song (i.e. credits) and what you were hoping to convey with it?
The music video was filmed by Chelsea Harada, it was only me and Chelsea on set. It takes place in a big, vacant junkyard in an industrial area on the outskirts of the city and the entire two minutes is me attempting to fly a kite to no avail. The funny story is that the kite wasn’t supposed to be broken – it was supposed to fly normally, but it didn’t play out like that and the kite got so mangled by the end of our shoot that I had to trash it. Honestly, I think it worked out for the better because what I sing about in this song can be equated to the feeling of attempting to fly a broken kite in a junkyard in the middle of nowhere. I have a super intuitive relationship to music and images, and flying a kite at sunset is always the image I saw for this song.
You can connect with and listen to more of Roxanne Izzo at the links below:
Linktree: Linktr.ee/roxanneizzo
Instagram: Instagram.com/roxanneizzo
Bandcamp: Roxanneizzo.bandcamp.com/music
Spotify: Roxanne Izzo on Spotify
Apple Music: Roxanne Izzo on Apple Music
YouTube: Youtube.com/@RoxanneIzzo
Facebook: Facebook.com/people/Roxanne-Izzo/61586706204463
Scummy Water Tower Productions co-founder, reviewer, business manager, and editor. Thank you for visiting this site, scummywatertower.com, and YouTube for Water Tower Sessions and SWT Interviews. And all of our socials.
Questions, feedback, or more? Contact me: alex@scummywatertower.com
Joshua is co-founder of Scummy Water Tower. He’s freelanced for a variety of newspapers, magazines, and websites, including: Rolling Stone, The Boston Globe, Chicago Sun-Times, Guitar World, MTV News, Grammy.com, Chicago Magazine, Milwaukee Magazine, MKE Lifestyle, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, A.V. Club, SPIN, Alternative Press, Under the Radar, Paste, PopMatters, American Songwriter, and Relix. You can email him at josh@scummywatertower.com.
