Wilmah talks Honest Artistry and Arcade Games

Photo by TORI MCGRAW

Wilmah is an indie band based in Brooklyn, New York, comprised of best friends Matt Connolly and Will O'Connor. On March 21st the band released their most recent single, All of the Time, a heartfelt confession of lingering love that drips with both nostalgia and regret. 

Everyone has moments of longing in their life that stick with them forever, even in the least expected places, and the band unapologetically explores this vulnerable process of still loving another person even when the world has kept moving on this brand new track.

To talk about all things Wilmah and the new direction that the band plans to take in 2025, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Matt Connolly. To understand where the band is going, I first wanted to discuss their starting point.

UPTIGHT: I know that you and Will started playing music together back in middle school, and through music you became close friends. What was it like to become closer, especially while making music when that can be a vulnerable process?

CONNOLLY: Yeah, Will and I were in a different band together in high school, and that started when I was 15 and he was 17, so we just didn’t think of it too deeply. We were so young that we were just making music because we liked playing music together, and quite naturally, Will and I became best friends pretty quickly because of the band. We always knew each other from school and baseball, but playing music is what brought us together. We didn't intellectualize it the way that we do now that we're older; it was just what we did.

UPTIGHT: When did you feel yourself begin to intellectualize the process and how did that shape your relationship with the music as time went on? 

CONNOLLY: I think when I was making songs at 15, I was just making things so we had songs to play at shows. And obviously I would write about my life to certain degrees, and it was a good outlet, but I'd say around maybe 18 or 19 was when I felt more about what I was doing and what I was making. I think at that age you think of everything on very existential, deep, deep terms. You think everything is very dramatic at that age, so I think that's when I started taking it more seriously in a way.

What quickly stuck out to me about Wilmah and the beauty of their songs is that they're able to combine bangers that you want to play in the car with your friend's volume on high with moments of vulnerability that can strike you in the gut. 

When talking about the balance that the band strikes between taking things seriously versus having fun with the music, Connolly had this to say:

“That's definitely intentional. I find it frustrating when certain artists are so kind of up their own ass and so dramatic about everything because music is important and I love making music, but you can take music seriously but not take yourself seriously, and I think that's what we try to do.”

UPTIGHT: Did it take time to get to that point where there wasn't as much overthinking? 

CONNOLLY: No, I think it's always been that way probably because of our personalities. I don't think we view ourselves as these deep artists. We definitely have that in there. I'm not knocking our songs or songwriting but we're just two dudes who make music. I think that's what most people who  make music are. I think it's more welcoming to audiences; there’s a lot more engagement.

UPTIGHT: I know you first signed in your early twenties so how have you been able to balance this approach with being signed to labels? 

CONNOLLY: Yeah we signed an indie deal when I was 20, and we were in it for 3 or 4 years. Honestly, I think it disrupted a lot of our creative process. And we learned a ton, but I think it kind of steered us in the wrong direction for a second because you start to make music where you're trying to hit it out of the park every time, and not every song you make is going to be a home run. There are probably a lot of songs that you will make that will be very important to you. That isn't going to be a song that you present to the label where they're like, ‘This is the one. let's invest in this one.’ It kind of became that we were making music to please a team of people, and that's just the complete opposite of why someone should make music. You should make music for yourself first and foremost, and then people will naturally want to be a part of it because they relate to it in some way. So that's a great example of the overthinking we were doing—we were way overthinking it. And it was the first time in our lives that people were investing money into the project and there were lawyers. All this shit involved thousands of dollars and you're like, ‘Well, I have to do what those people want me to do, but those people aren't always right.’ And a lot of the time they're not right.

UPTIGHT: What was it like getting back on track and finding what you both wanted your voice to be again?

CONNOLLY: We've made a lot of music, and I think you need to make a lot of music in order to figure out what your sound is and what direction you want to take the project in. So it was a lot of trial and error and sonically trying out a lot of different things, and I feel like only now are we finally arriving at our unique sound—like our identifiable sound—and the music that we want to make, we're finally making it, so I'm happy that we stuck with it because it's definitely been quite the process.

UPTIGHT: How has your most recent EP, Being Young and Confused, shaped this sound and your newest single that is out now?

CONNOLLY: That EP was us finally reverting back to what Wilmah felt like when we were 18 making music, and we were doing a lot of things. I mean, there's a bit of genre hopping on that EP because we've never wanted to be tied down to one sound. Although now that I get older, I think there's something nice about cohesiveness, so I want to tap into that, and I think making this new song that comes out tonight kind of laid the groundwork for the future. It almost feels like all the songs we've made and put out have been leading up to this one song, and it's kind of going to be indicative of where Wilmah is going sonically. I love a lot of those songs on the EP; they're well produced, and everyone that worked on it did a great job, but I'm most excited for All of the Time because I think it truly shows what Wilmah is.

UPTIGHT: “All of the Time” also speaks to this ability to balance fun with some raw experiences. Do you find that you want some of your music moving forward to also lean into this nostalgia?

CONNOLLY: That song is just very honest—and I want to be as honest as possible in my songwriting, even if that might be slightly embarrassing or I feel seen by it—but I think the reason that people are already connecting with the song is because of how honest and real it is, and that was just me being honest with myself. Like, I couldn't stop thinking about someone after all that time had passed and kind of just admitting that and using real examples of how that was manifesting in my life. I think if you're on stage and you're not slightly embarrassed to be saying what you're saying in front of people, then it's probably not worth saying.

UPTIGHT: Do you have a favorite lyric that you've ever written?

CONNOLLY: I do have one that comes to mind that I've never actually put into a song yet is:

I had rose-colored glasses in five different frames.

But the blues that you gave me is hundreds of shades

The singer added after revealing the lyrics, “I think it's crazy when some people are like, I don't listen to the lyrics when I listen to music. I'm like, ‘What the hell are you talking about?’”

UPTGHT: Is there a track or even a project that has felt the most defining to who you are as a band or your sound so far? 

CONNOLLY: Funnily enough, Will and I, before we signed to that label, had 12 songs out that were wiped from Spotify. And I think our first EP under the label—the songs are good, and I'm proud of them—but like I was saying, it still felt like we were trying to—and I don't want to discredit those songs because I like them—but it felt like we were trying to please someone. Other than ourselves, I would say our song, Your Girl, feels very reminiscent of the first batch of Wilmah songs in like 2019 or 2020. A lot of them are still us experimenting, like I love the rain. We had never made a song like that; Boy for the Night was a pretty down the middle rock tune, and we don't do that often, but that was fun to do—like we set out to make a rock song. We even said it to ourselves, and being in New York, we're surrounded by rock bands and we don't feel like a rock band. It's really like, ‘Let's give that a try.’ Say My Name is very pop-y. Yeah, I guess it's a combination of everything, but if I had to answer, I'd say, Your Girl.

Photo by TORI MCGRAW

UPTIGHT: You've worked in genres like punk rock and indie. What is it like getting to play within different genres and finding what fits best?

CONNOLLY: I find it very fun and exciting, but it can be frustrating; trying new things a lot doesn't always lead to a product that I like, so I think that we love so many different types of music that we're tempted to try everything that we like out and pull from many different things, but with our new song, All of the Time, I really felt like it was cementing a sound for us. And I almost—in the new music that I've been writing—I'm trying to limit myself to that sound. Like, I usually make five songs, and they're all in a different world. I want all of the songs to feel like they're in one world now and in a way that's challenging, but in a way it kind of removes a lot of challenges because you're not doing so many different things at once, and it's not to say that I think we're all over the place—like there's a similar thread throughout all of the music—but I think moving forward I want to do less because I think that's going to be more in the end.

The artist revealed that it takes a lot of honing your craft to truly tap into a sound that can feel like your own, not only during the process of writing the song but also when entering the production phase. 

CONNOLLY: We've done a lot of stuff, and we've made a lot of music that hasn't come out because it really doesn't feel like us; at least all of these songs feel like Wilmah, and I think there are a lot of artists now in 2025. Everyone likes most types of music. I mean, 20 years ago, people liked one thing, and that was their thing, and that's what they identified with. You could see it in their personality and the way they dressed—like they were punk kids, hardcore kids, whatever, and now everyone likes everything—so it's not a surprise that artists and their music reflect that, but I think there's something to be said about someone who has their own sound and sticks with it, and then, you know, down the line, maybe it can evolve into whatever it is. I think with the amount of music that Will and I like, it would be impossible for us not to pull from different areas.

UPTIGHT: Are there any decisions that you made during the production process, such as using certain sounds that felt out of the box but felt fulfilling on the final project?

CONNOLLY: One of our songs off of the EP uses Auto-Tune, and that's a very divisive thing to use in music. A lot of people love it, but a lot of people really hate it. I love putting Auto-Tune on my voice, so that makes me think of that. I'm still learning production. I mean, I think you're always learning as a musician, but I want to experiment as much as possible, and I feel like I'm figuring out how to do that. And whether it be through samples or live recordings—we're doing a lot of live recordings because something that we were running into was people would say ‘Your records sound great, but you sound really, really good live and it sounds different than it does on Spotify—so I'm trying to bring that into the recording. So a lot more live drums, a lot more live piano, just doing less on the laptop, and I'm really trying to combine technology with classic instrumentation because I think at this point in time in 2025, what's exciting for me is mixing the old with the new.

When talking about how music has evolved over the course of history and the  shift in the tastes of listeners we see today, there was a clear respect for the era of music that came before the digital age while also wanting to blend the power of both pieces of history into something new.

CONNOLLY: A lot of those recording techniques were figured out in the ‘60s, ‘70s, and ‘80s that we’re now using on a laptop, so figuring out how people did things 40 years ago and now doing it in your own way is a very exciting prospect.

UPTIGHT: If there are ever times that you are in a creative rut, what would you say helps to get you out of it?

CONNOLLY: Yeah, I think that the fear that I get is that another good idea isn't going to come along cuz the way that I work is if I have a good song title or a good hook I usually build around that. And so, sonically I'm never really worried, but lyrically—because words are so important—I mean I've worked with a producer that is like, ‘Just sing gibberish, the words don't matter,’ and I'm like, ‘Yeah they do.’ And that's what comes first for me, so I always get afraid that another good song isn't going to come along and then it always does, but there is some time in between and I think some people have the mentality of you can like write yourself out of those ruts, and to be honest, I've never really tried to do that. I've never felt the necessity to. I always just wait and something good does come along and I think that there's ways to find them. I think reading helps; movies, television, other forms of entertainment I think can definitely inspire a song. So I just wait patiently and hope that something good comes along, and it usually does, but I definitely get that fear or writer's block that you're like, ‘Oh man, was that the last good one I'm ever going to write?’

UPTIGHT: What would you say has been your most fun track to perform live?

CONNOLLY: I love performing. Honestly, it's all the new music we've been writing and performing all of the time that is really, really fun. It's one of those songs that you play, and when the crowd doesn't know the song by the second chorus, they know what to say. It really feels like a sing-along and I love that we have a new unreleased song called Girls from Brooklyn that I love to play. Yeah, I'm enjoying playing the new stuff.

UPTIGHT: I have to ask, what’s your favorite arcade game to play, especially at Dave & Buster’s?

CONNOLLY: I used to like to play Centipede when I was little. Where I grew up in Buffalo, there was a restaurant that I would go to with my parents, and they had one of the big vintage machines, so I would play that. You should try to find a centipede machine and play it sometime.

UPTIGHT: What do you ultimately hope that listeners take away from your music?

CONNOLLY: I hope that they find a piece of themselves in the songs because I think that’s why I listen to music.I think there's something really special when I hear a song and the entire time I'm like, ‘Holy shit, did they literally write this about me?’ So I hope I offer that for people. Music is a good escape, and it brings me tons of joy in life. It did so many things for me, so if I'm able to do that for others, I feel like that would be a mission accomplished.

It's clear that Wilmah operates under a desire for true, authentic art. With this inherent passion comes an organic level of fun that spreads infectiously to the listener. Connolly has a knack for writing lyrics that hold up a mirror for the person that presses play on their tracks, and the latest single is no exception to this ability.