Wet’s latest album Still Run is a marathon of emotion

By: Robyn Welsh, Publishing Editor

Wet’s sophomore album Still Run skillfully toys with a vagueness that leaves listeners craving emotional depth while simultaneously giving them the opportunity to project their own experiences onto the album. The album feels and acts like a plea for change by Kelly Zutrau both professionally and personally.

Compared to Wet’s first album Don’t You, Still Run maintains a newfound sense of clarity, due to new dynamics within the group.

When creating Don’t You, Wet was a trio, but has since become a duo for Still Run: Kelly Zutrau and Joe Valle. Still Run is the product Wet’s shift as a band, and feels like a leaping point for what the power-duo will create in the future.

Zutrau’s silky voice is one that demands a sense of calmness in the listener, especially when paired with the album’s full-bodied strings and building synths. Spoiler alert: if you aren’t listening to Still Run with headphones, you aren’t getting the full experience.

With hints of emotional abuse finding their way into lyrics like “there’s always something wrong, it must be my fault” and “we always got along, but not on my terms,” the track “Lately” walks the line of unequal balance and emotional turmoil in relationships. The song holds a lot of meaning for Zutrau, with lyrics such as “you never like how my song sounds, but you give nothing of yourself” directed toward her ex and musical partner, Valle.

Skillfully mashing R&B and synth-pop, Still Run is a powerful glimpse into Kelly Zutrau’s experiences as a woman in the music industry. The album is hard to fully appreciate without hearing about the vast relationships and emotional history within the group.

Amid feelings of lacklustre support, Zutrau shared with Fader, she “felt like no one was listening to me and that no one liked what I was doing and yet still wanted to be a part of the process. This was in every area of my life, not just music.”

“I was working so hard to try to hold things together and over-communicating to make it work for everyone, but everyone’s still unhappy all the time for whatever reason,” she said.
If you have the time, give Still Run a fair chance. It took me about four listens to enjoy the album as much as I do now.