navel grazr shines bright on “PUFF PIECE”
Photo Credit: Rita Iovine
If you listen to navel grazr’s latest song “PUFF PIECE” closely, you’ll hear navel grazr pushing in a new direction. The NYC duo is songwriter/vocalist Anjali Nair (Dog In A Man Suit, Endearments, Joyce) and producer/multi-instrumentalist Dominic Dellaquila (Project Diem). Nair started the project as a “no-pressure creative refuge,” writing songs in her bedroom back in 2019. At the same time, she was playing guitar in several bands. Spending a few years writing led her to take the navel grazr to a new level and in 2023 she joined forces with Dellaquila.
Elegies, the band’s 2024, debut EP, is a dark shade of pop. On the opening song “Heads Will Roll,” musical phrases that begin with Nair’s voice end with descending synths. On “Two Funerals” – included in our Best Songs of 2024 – navel grazr creates contrast inserting atmospheric interludes and guitar shredding into an otherwise upbeat song. Lyrically, it’s inward-looking.
On their latest song “PUFF PIECE”, the duo explores something else. It’s bright enough to soundtrack the opening scenes of a California-themed TV show. With intricate vocal arrangements and upbeat rhythms, it’s the band trying on a different sonic palette.
We connected with Nair to talk about creative collaboration, community, experimenting with bubblegum pop and more.
Tell us about “PUFF PIECE”.
“PUFF PIECE” came not long after Elegies, which was a deeply personal EP - something really vulnerable, which took a lot of me to write. It was also a long production process, as my first collaboration with Dom - at least two and a half years in the making for the four songs to be fully realized. So maybe I was subconsciously trying to write my way out of that headspace, kind of as a reset. “PUFF PIECE” is still very navel grazr to me, especially once it hits the lushness of the bridge and the eerie echoes of “survival” trailing off at the end - shout out to Meghan Seeberg, aka Joyce, for adding some cool ad-libs like that to the song. Lyrically, it’s about superficial optimism - trying to stay light, flirty, and willfully vapid while deflecting bigger existential thoughts. It sounds earnest in its delivery, but it’s a little too good to be true.
The song is a departure from the darker goth/dream pop influenced music that navel grazr has released. What were some of the sonic references you were thinking about at the time of writing and recording?
The song is definitely more playful and pop-forward than what people expect from us - which is part of why we thought it’d be fun to put it on the “daylight” side of the comp. It’s probably not the side people would expect us to contribute to, but we try not to be too precious about being boxed in by genre. Personally, I love how a band like The Cure can go from moody and brooding to unabashed bubblegum pop without caring if it fits their “brand.” So they were a big touchstone: especially in the guitar leads, which are my little nod to that era of new wave. Production-wise, we referenced stuff like “Forget It” by Blood Orange (for that indie-pop guitar tone), “Ship to Wreck” - Florence & The Machine (for the spacious arrangement), and “Some Kind of Nature” by Gorillaz (for the wonky background screams in verse two).
Mark Watter (Liz Delise) who mixed the song made a lot of creative choices and contributed significantly to the song’s evolution too, from the pre-production stage. We recorded live drums for the first time, with engineer/drummer Jack Dougherty (Ghostie Recordings) pulling double duty. And Billie, my partner, who has been our bassist since navel grazr became a live project, played and sang on it along with Meghan (Joyce). So this song was a collaborative effort on multiple fronts, making it feel pretty different overall.
navel grazr has been working together as a duo for some time now. What do you think you bring out in each other when you collaborate?
I grew up on 2000s pop (Avril Lavigne, Hilary Duff, etc.), emo/pop punk (MCR, Panic!), and 90s grunge - so ideas from those worlds naturally show up in many of the songs I write. I love unexpected melodic phrases, inspired by artists all the way from Fiona Apple to PUP, where the vocals sometimes lead you out of regular meter. Dom is really good at elevating songs into cinematic, harmonically rich pieces that I could never get to on my own - like his style feels very sophisticated to me.
We both have plenty in common aesthetically too, though - for one, an obsession with layering parts and making sure each verse has its own “thing,” whether it’s alternate instrumentation, a rhythmic shift, or just some tiny sonic moment that changes the feel. We both tend to be perfectionists, so it can be tough to call a song “done.” “PUFF PIECE” was one of the first times we were explicitly like, “Okay, we gotta reign this in.” So we actually spent an afternoon peeling back a bunch of layers (guitars, extra percussion, etc.) we’d initially added until it had more room to breathe.
As someone who’s involved in local music, playing in several bands, how would you describe the nyc indie scene in its current form?
It feels really community-driven right now. Go to enough shows and you start seeing the same faces over and over, and sometimes sub-scenes even overlap. A lot of showgoers are in bands themselves, which has its ups and downs. In our corner of the scene, it’s been great to see collaboration happen, both live and in the studio. People are willing to try weird, ambitious ideas - like AVSE’s (A Very Special Episode) recent DIY haunted house (which we were lucky enough to play!) or The Planes’ “guitar armada” a couple years back - and there’s enough trust/camaraderie to actually pull them off. That kind of energy is inspiring, and we all need it these days, when the political turmoil can make you feel pretty powerless.
Who are some of your favorite NYC bands that you think people should know?
Honestly, so many. We’re super lucky to have so many talented friends and acquaintances - I hesitate to name only a few but I will. Everyone’s favorite local band is A Very Special Episode (our winter madness champs) and the love is well-deserved - their shows are consistently bonkers and their accompanying visual world is stunning too. Much love to Ilithios: the dancey undercurrent in their songs and joyful performances bring everyone together. I love Leathered and Power Pose - slightly witchy, post-punky, vocal-forward rock bands led by badass women.
Outside of our usual orbit, Boyscoutmarie’s EP blew me away - energetic and punky in a very distinct way. And this summer, we played a show with The Royal They - I had no words, my face melted and I can’t believe I missed out on these local legends for so long.
What’s next for navel grazr?
We’re getting ready to record a full-length album early next year! Really excited to have some time in the studio and dig back into our dark, dreamy goth-pop roots, but hopefully with a few new surprises in there too.
“PUFF PIECE” is out now on the soundvsystem records compilation daylight x darknight. To purchase on cassette, head to Bandcamp. You can also listen on streaming services.
Follow navel grazr on Instagram.
New York’s navel grazr was started by Anjali Nair as a “no-pressure creative refuge.” With Dominic Dellaquila, navel grazr creates rich sonic textures, often dancing in the shadows of pop. Read our Q&A with Nair in which we talk NYC’s indie scene, perfectionism, collaboration and their latest song “PUFF PIECE.”