Addie Warnke's Atmospheric Shoegaze

October, 2024 by Elise Henry- Published in HWS's "The Herald"

This week, I had the pleasure of interviewing Addie Warnke (Computerwife)- an up and coming shoegaze/grunge musician based in Brooklyn, New York. These slow, pedal effect based genres are emerging once again like they did in the early 90’s, except this time the artists are more commonly coming from New York City rather than England. I personally found out about Warncke’s music in the summer of 2023, when my close friend Meg introduced it to me. “Leave Me Be”, one of her hit songs from the Computerwife EP (extended play) blasted on her 2006 Toyota speakers, a medley of shakers and warped electronic guitar sounds coloring my interest. This was my first introduction to Addie’s creative mind. When I started listening more in depth to her 2023 release, Computerwife the album, that was when I felt inclined to reach out and learn more about her. I wanted to know more about Warncke’s own personal journey, the ideas behind certain songs like “Lexapro” and “Texas Chainsaw Dilemma”, as well as where her unique sound comes from. 

Music has been a big part of Warncke's life since… ever. An Atlanta, Georgia native, she has always been interested and involved in the music scene. In our interview, she recalls the time that she got a fake ID at 17 so she could go to “529”, a bar that hosts up and coming musicians in Atlanta. “There really are a lot of bands that experiment with grungy, shoegaze, electronic music that started blowing up around that time”, she says when asked what the music scene was like. When she started writing and producing her own music at just 18 years old, Warncke was set on being one of those grunge artists. However, her view on that has changed since then. She states now that her genre isn’t something she classifies herself; it’s something she lets her audience decide. We could call her an independent artist, a shoegaze artist, or any other classifying terms. 

When Warncke turned 18, she started to experiment with Ableton, a production program used widely throughout the world of music. She is a one woman show when it comes to making her music, even saying that she wishes she had gone to art school so it would have been easier for her to get involved in a band. Studying music at New York University, she found that everyone was more focused on a personal journey than willing to start/join a band with others. So therefore she used what she had, Ableton, inspiration, and a hell of a creative mind. In future releases she hopes to get a more “angular” sound in working with a producer and band, as well as almost go in an “opposite” musical direction.

Zooming in on Warnkes 2023 self titled album Computerwife, I got the opportunity to talk to her about specific tracks and inspirations that were incorporated into the album. She says that most of her songs are actually recorded on top of the original demos, which I found to be a unique and creative way to go about it.

When I asked her why her voice and lyrics weren’t at the forefront of her songs despite the vulnerability, she came back with a statement that is common among musicians. “I just don’t like hearing the sound of my voice too much, so that’s kind of part of the reason why they’re ducked so much.”I myself also dislike hearing the sound of my own voice as a singer, so I understand where she is coming from. She also mentions how stylistically, a lot of her inspirations for the album (Alex G, Splash, Pretty Sick) had similar vocal ducking and layering.

“Lexapro”, the third track on Computerwife the album, is heavily inspired by the Sonic Youth song “Little Trouble Girl”. “The drums are like a recreation of that and the song I was trying to structure it around, like my version of making the song basically.” When I listen to Sonic Youth’s song in parallel to “Lexapro”, it’s easy to pick out the similarities in the instrumentals, but not so much that it sounds copied. Syrupy and grungy, I get a twinge of sadness every time I listen to Warnke’s “Lexapro”. The sixth track on the album, “Texas Chainsaw Dilemma” is a unique medley of sound clips taken from the movie Texas Chainsaw Massacre itself. She drew inspiration from the artist 18 Carat Affair, a producer who mostly makes vaporwave music. 

This microgenre of music is similar to Computerwife’s: electronic and inspired by art. His song “Jenna's Dilemma” had vocal samples from a movie that she found to be impactful, so she took the idea and ran with it for “Texas Chainsaw Dilemma”, even paying homage to 18 Carat Affair through the title. When deciding what to put on the tracklist as a whole, she found Pretty Sick's album Deep Divine, specifically using the song “Telephone” as an interlude to be an interesting format. “Texas Chainsaw Dilemma” is a break from the vulnerable lyrics, and draws busy listeners back in with curious sound clips from the movie and detailing in the track. 

Computerwife is Addie Warncke’s soul project at the heart of it all. “I get a lot of self worth from finishing projects and stuff like that… it puts time stamps into my life in a certain way.” This couldn’t be more true for anyone who makes music, performs, or is involved in any other intensive hobbies. As someone who considers themselves well-versed in the different genres of music, I believe that Warncke will be at the forefront of new musicians soon. Her lack of defining genre, but at the same time complete dedication to her career is something our industry needs more of.