The Sunday Music Drop is a weekly radio series hosted by the KQED weekend news team. In each segment, we feature a song from a local musician or band with an upcoming show and hear about what inspires their music.
Oakland-based vocalist and performer Asha Wells said they have a wide range of people to draw musical inspiration from, including Ella Fitzgerald, Modest Mouse, Jeff Buckley, Kate Bush, and Joni Mitchell. Originally from Mountain View and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah, their background in classical vocal training was in opera, folk song, and musical theater. They taught themselves how to play guitar at 16 years old to accompany their singing and later learned to play the piano and bass.
Musically, they describe their style as art folk or chamber pop. Writing and performing songs are a very personal experience for them. Wells will often write songs in the break room while at work or record singing in a voice memo on their smartphone.
“If I sat down with a piece of paper and a pencil, I don’t think that I could draw that out of myself willfully,” they said. “But I don’t know when I’m in a state of subconscious writing, and I’m just kind of thinking more about melody, the words kind of just pour out.”
When writing their song “Impermanent I,” Wells said it explored an experience they were having health-wise around aging and wear and tear on their body.