If you stopped by the Allston Pudding-curated festival The Big Gig at Brighton Speedway on May 24th, you were lucky enough to hear an intimate performance from one of Providence’s premiere dream-pop groups, Wooll. Well, a few short weeks later, the band is back with a new single, “Picboy.” It is the band’s first new music since their 2025 sophomore album Thistle, and we’re delighted to be hosting the premiere!
Wooll consists of Corinne Roma on vocals and acoustic guitar, Tyler Rosenholm and Robert LaSalvia on electric guitar, Tyler Chauncey on bass and Derek Goulet on drums, and although they may be still relatively new to the scene, they have pedigree – Rosenholm, Chauncey and Goulet all played in former Boston stalwart Kid Mountain before forming Wooll. Their first two albums show remarkable patience and cohesion, with a sound that is both effortlessly tight and still very dreamy. Thistle saw the band add a few darker elements to their music, and the trend continues on “Picboy.”
“Picboy” is a great showcase for the two ends of the Wooll spectrum. The song opens with one clean guitar riff being strummed while a crunchier guitar drones on a few chords; it happens a few times throughout the song, and has a bit of an ominous feel to it. But the chorus gives way to some surprising banjo courtesy of Rosenholm, and the predictably smooth vocals from Roma. The song swings back and forth until the 2:45 mark, when it stops abruptly in a big guitar crunch. An instrumental coda brings in a violin alongside the banjo, courtesy of Colleen McHugh. The louder moments of the song show the band’s dream-pop influences, while the use of banjo, violin and acoustic guitar highlight their folksier side.
Although the band works well as a unit, Roma’s vocals are often the focus on Wooll’s songs. That isn’t so much the case on “Picboy,” where the listener is drawn more to the dichotomy in instruments. Still, Roma’s voice is clean and gorgeous, and the lyrics about an unspecific and carefree relationship seem to hint at something that could go either direction, just like the music of the song itself. Eventually, it all lands on the softer side of the things, with a truly pleasant coda.
The song was tracked, engineered and mixed by Mikey Bullister at Microscopic Sounds and Public Hi-fi, both in Providence (the latter of which is owned by Spoon’s Jim Eno). Wooll can next be seen on July 11th at Lost Bag in their hometown of Providence, playing with Soup Dreams, Jo Celine and Pudding favorites Salty Greyhound.
“Picboy” is available to stream and purchase here: