9 Lives

An “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mentality works well for some artists, but Koe Wetzel likes to take things apart. On his follow-up to 2022’s Hell Paso, the cult-favourite singer-songwriter finds fresh sounds with a new collaborator, tapping Gabe Simon (Noah Kahan) to produce a genre-bending album that’s also his most fun and freewheeling. “There’s different layers to who I am as a musician, as an artist, and I wanted people to see that from this record,” Wetzel says. “So, if they can come away from listening to the entire record, not just picking a couple songs apart and having their idea of it, [but] listening to the whole record and be like, ‘OK, now we get it a little bit more. Maybe he is a decent artist, a decent musician.’” “Decent” is an understatement, as Wetzel’s deep, rich voice and refreshingly cliché-averse songwriting make for some of the more interesting tunes coming out of the country genre. Highlights on 9 Lives include the title track, with its stomping beat and an irresistible chorus hook, as well as “Leigh”, a clever, humorous tip of the hat to a popular variation on women’s names. Up-and-comer Jessie Murph lends her swagger to “High Road”. Wetzel includes two covers on the album, both from late artists: the hip-hop wunderkind XXXTENTACION’s “Depression & Obsession”, and beloved country singer-songwriter Keith Gattis’ “Reconsider”. Below, Wetzel breaks down several key tracks. “Leigh” “We had a list of names, probably 30 names, and it was like, ‘This would be really cool to write this song.’ And I think we started off as a joke, and then, once we got kind of into it, we were like, ‘This kind of slaps.’ I was like, ‘People are going to take this the wrong way. These girls are going to take all this stuff the wrong way.’ It was a fun song for us to make. And yeah, it’s kind of a diverse song. It kind of has its ups and downs, but it’s a fun song.” “High Road” (feat. Jessie Murph) “We went back on a past relationship that I had had a while ba