Photo by Harry Wohl
Some albums are unavoidable, particularly when they come highly recommended from friends. An advance stream of Prewn’s System had been sitting in my in-box for months leading up to the album’s release in October but due to impending deadlines, it sat unlistened alongside dozens of other streaming links from publicists. But, upon System’s release, Prewn became a talking point among music communities I frequent with some even calling it a candidate for album of the year. So, despite the opportunity to be among the first to hear the album, my initial listen didn’t happen until after it was commercially available but I could instantly hear what had caused people whose opinions I respect to laud it as a masterpiece worthy of accolades.
System is Izzy Hagerup’s sophomore release under the name Prewn, the first with her playing all the instruments. It’s not a dramatic departure from the full-band effort of 2023’s Through the Windows, however there’s an intimacy that comes from a singular voice and System sounds like an album recorded in the witching hour by someone with no constraints, someone who doesn’t have to appease bandmates or ask permission to experiment. It’s honest, unflinching, dark and twisted, perhaps due to the inclusion of Hagerup’s Cello work throughout the nine tracks. Names like PJ Harvey and Fiona Apple have been thrown around in album reviews and are appropriate, as both of those artists created something unique and against the status quo while finding mainstream success against all odds.
It’s rather telling that Hagerup initially didn’t view the tracks that make up System as a comprehensive, releasable collection. The songs were those nagging ideas buried deep in Hagerup’s brain that needed to be exorcised, even if just to clear space for whatever comes next. The fact that Hagerup fleshed the tracks out and released them with no preconceptions of how – or even if – they’d land with listeners makes System an even more treasured gift. To imagine that these songs may never have seen the light of days is a scary proposition that, fortunately, we don’t have to consider.
When Hagerup joins me via a video conference call, she’s beaming with excitement. “I just bought a minivan today, so I’m on that high,” she says while sitting on an outdoor patio under the California sun. When I ask if the 2012 Honda Odyssey was purchased for touring purposes (fingers crossed), Hagerup says, “It’s for personal use and for touring. I’ve been without a car for a couple weeks, so life is good for now.” I mention that my family has owned two Honda Odysseys and that while, yes, they are minivans, they are good cars. “I know,” Hagerup says. “I was like, should I get flames for the side or something? But, then, that’s not good if I get pulled over. Maybe I could throw a ‘Baby on Board’ sticker on the back window.”
I stumbled on a YouTube video of Prewn performing Veruca Salt covers at an outdoor show. They are one of my favorite bands and I was blown away. Are you fan?
IZZY: Yeah, actually. Every year in Northampton they do a different themed festival thing. Bands submit to cover a band that fits into the theme. I think the theme that year was the elements, so it was pretty open-ended. But that was actually Mia [Huggs], who was playing in Prewn, she kind of started it with her playing bass in it. It was so fun.
”Shimmer Like a Girl” is, in my mind, sort of a deep cut. You didn’t pick the big hit, and you guys nailed it. It was so good.
IZZY: Thank you. Mia gets more credit for that one, but it was really fun.
So, in 2025 is Prewn you, or is Prewn a band?
IZZY: The first album, I started Prewn and it was a band. It was with my ex-boyfriend and Mia. I had already made and recorded Through the Window. All the songs existed before I made the band. The band kind of fell apart for various reasons. We all love each other, it’s all good, but I think Prewn essentially is my baby. It’s my one main outlet. At this point, it’s a band, but it’s a shifting band. I’m the one that stays. I’ve been stretching my muscles a lot and learning a lot in the process of making new bands. Now I moved across the country, of course, and I’m just kind of trying to keep it a little bit open. I’m gonna make a band in Berlin for the Europe tour. At its core, making the music that is part of the Prewn project is the process that I’m addicted to and, on a soul level, need to do: make these songs and record them all in isolation on some level. I wanna be part of other projects more, I wanna collaborate as Prewn more, but it is the one thing that is deeply personal to me. Maybe I have some commitment issues, too. Being in a band with people, shit happens, and I’m like, this needs to forever be a thing, and I know that I can count on myself.
You did an album release show recently. Are the people that played with you at that show who you consider to be the touring band or were those just people who were available to play the release show with you?
IZZY: The band in Western Mass has been as it is for a year, give or take. I love everyone in the band so much; they’re so sweet and so good. They did both the shows on the East Coast. I’ve been putting myself in this situation of having to figure it out, and I’m figuring it out as I go, but I’m actually gonna fly them out to do this West Coast tour because it’s just feeling so good. I don’t know what I’m doing most of the time, but I am excited. Seeing different people’s interpretation of the music is so cool and exciting. There’s just so much to learn from people, and being in a band is like being in a relationship on some level. There’s just this intimacy.
Wilco’s Solid Sound Festival lineup just dropped and I was excited to see Prewn is performing. How did that happen?
IZZY: I just got a U.S. booker. I just got a manager and a booker, and I’m just so grateful. This guy, Tom, he got it. I’m so psyched to do it. I think he definitely talked to them and was like, “Prewn started in Western Mass.” I was kind of told it happened and I was like, “Hell yeah!” I’m very, very excited.
The songs that are on System were sitting in a drawer, metaphorically, and you pulled them out. Was the idea that you were saving them so you could make an album?
IZZY: Honestly, it had been some time after I put out Through the Window. I’m just figuring out how to do any of this, but I was feeling like maybe I should put something out. I really took the time to sift through what I’d been working on over the past few years and just started narrowing it down. I didn’t think most of these songs were complete. It just took shifting how I was seeing them, because I didn’t really take them seriously. I was like, “I know I love something about each of these songs, but they’ll never see the light of day.” That’s why it’s so wild that they’re out and people are reacting to them in this way.
Does System feel like a real album to you? Or, did you just have to clean out the drawer so you could start from scratch on what you really think of as a second album?
IZZY: I think on some level I wanted to do something with these songs. I just reached a point where I wanted to move on without leaving them. karl [Helander], who has drummed in the band a lot, he mixed the album, and I think that process really brought them to life. The more I listened, the more I was like, “Wait…”
Are you the type of person to continuously write? The songs on System have been around for a little while, do you have another record already in mind or even started?
IZZY: Kinda. I have so many songs that haven’t been recorded yet. When I’ve tried to record, there’s just such a nuance; I’ve recorded a lot of songs, but I’m still just like, “That’s not it.” The thing with this album that does feel so special is a lot of the songs were made in the moment. The recording is from the night they were created. I feel like there’s this energy that I can’t replicate. I’m starting to look through my stuff and it’s growing, but I definitely want to approach the next album in a different way and push myself. I guess I have this idea that bands go to a studio and it’s a really thought-out thing, but there’s a magic to spontaneity. I don’t really know how to do it otherwise. Maybe I need to start leaning into what does work for me instead of trying to do what I think I should do. I’m always feeling like I’m doing something wrong, but what if I stop doubting everything all the time?
Is there a particular time of the day that you like to record?
IZZY: Definitely. I always want to get right into it, and I think that mentality isn’t helpful sometimes. No matter what time I get there, it’s really not until 10 or 11 PM that anything’s happening. Sometimes I need to be there for 8 hours to feel aimless and stuck, but there’s a magic in the night. I wish it worked otherwise. Maybe I just need to leave the mornings for practicing or learning some new solo, but the creativity seems to come when everyone’s asleep and I’m as isolated as I can possibly be.
Some artists will record something today and put it out in two weeks. Others will write and record an album that sits on a hard drive for years before seeing the light of day. What was the timeline on System?
IZZY: It would be the latter. Maybe I’ve said that I didn’t mean to put these out, but maybe on some level I did and I was just waiting. It was the same with Through the Window; these songs were sitting for a long time and I assumed that they needed to be better.
The songs on System, you finished recording them or wrote them three years ago?
IZZY: Some of them, but once I decided to put it out, I had to take a few months procrastinating, making decisions of who would mix it. I’m really slow at doing things and very avoidant. Most of them just existed. I wanted them to go out, I just didn’t think they were finished. One of the reasons I thought they couldn’t go out is because they’re the same chord progression the whole entire time. I was just like, “That’s not allowed, that’s a cop-out.” But then I think about music that I love and I’m not really thinking about that; I’m thinking about how I’m feeling. Sometimes the simplest songs are really just about how they make you feel, so I realized I can let go of that rigidity.
Once everything’s done and sent off, it’s out of your hands. Are you able to disassociate yourself from your songs or are you thinking about what you could have done differently?
IZZY: Once they were really out of my hands, when I was in the process of mixing and then it got sent to mastering, that was intense. I was getting a little obsessive, for sure. But once it’s out in the world, I’m like, “What can I do?” Now, sometimes I’ll listen to it, but when I make the songs, I get so obsessive and listen to them until I kinda hate them. If I want to ever really hear them again, I think I need to take five or ten years. Every time I try to listen to it, I know it too well. I have no idea what it sounds like to someone else. When you write, is it also usually in the nighttime?
I work a corporate day job, so when I write, it doesn’t even start until I get home and after dinner. I don’t start writing until 10 o’clock.
IZZY: It’s a surreal place, alone at night in that creative whatever.
Did you have expectations when this record came out, of how it would go?
IZZY: Not really. Putting music out is so vulnerable to the core. At one point when I was making it, I was like, “Fuck yeah,” but give it a couple days of having over-listened and I don’t know if it’s good at all. I was getting validation from Karl, who was mixing it, but I just had to not think about it. What matters is that I got so much from the process, and now I can let them go and it’s none of my business how it’s received. My ego is plenty fragile, but I had no idea how it would go and I wasn’t letting myself create any expectations. I’m pleasantly surprised.
Did you get a booking agent and manager because you’ve seen what you consider success and want to take advantage of that? If the album hadn’t made an impact or wind up on year-end Top 50 lists, would you have still pushed forward?
IZZY: I love playing shows. I’ve only toured so much, but you get so much life and experience. I want to do that no matter what. I’ve been wanting a booker and manager for ages because it’s me managing myself and it’s a lot. By the time it was coming out, I was moving to LA and I didn’t even have a band anymore. I’m too chaotic. My intention was to be doing as much as I could, but because of the response to this album, I think I got the manager and the booker. Now that’s making things happen, but left to my own devices, it’s really helpful to have somebody else figuring out the process. While I’m capable and not too settled down, I want those experiences you get when you take music into the world.
What made you pack up and move across the country to LA?
IZZY: I’d been meaning to make some drastic move for years. When I realized I was 28, that realization hit that everyone around me gets older and I do too. I was feeling like no matter what, I needed to move somewhere that I didn’t really know anyone. If I didn’t do that, I felt like I wasn’t using my opportunity of life. I never thought I would move to LA, but I wanted to be on the West Coast because it’s so beautiful. A trusted friend who I really look up to was saying that as far as music, it’s New York or LA. I thought if I am going to be trying to do music and I’ve never lived somewhere that’s warm all the time, what would be really ridiculous? I’m not going to move to LA later in my life. What if I just give it a shot? It was ultimately just throwing caution to the wind and going somewhere I could never imagine myself.
And how does it feel now?
IZZY: It’s really nice to come back to. Sitting outside is beautiful; there’s a mountain right there. The nature and the space is amazing. I love driving, but to go in and out is a lot. The main thing that is lacking is still a sense of community. When I go back to New York City, I’m like, “Oh, yeah.” I wish New York and LA were just a little closer because they’re so opposite. But health-wise, I feel good. I’ve been traveling more than half the time that I’ve been here, but it’s not so bad.
Have you developed any sort of music-related community in LA?
IZZY: Yeah, I know there’s so much going on that I just don’t know yet. I know it takes time, but I’ve definitely been going to shows. It’s nice how spread out it is, but it’s also like, “Where is everybody?” They’re 30 minutes away to drive over. It makes me miss that aspect of New York where you just get on the rollercoaster of a train and here you are. It’s so much more communal in that sense. I’m enjoying the music scene; I have yet to really understand it and I’m excited to dive into it.
Since you’re only in LA so much, where else are you going?
IZZY: I went to Europe to play a couple of shows and had a few weeks in between to just chill. Then I was home for two weeks before going to Western Mass to practice for the show at Baby’s All Right. We had the album release right after. I can still work at a bar back there, and I don’t have a job in LA yet, so I’ve been kind of balancing that. My manager just told me I’m doing so much touring this year. I’ve only ever done two-week tours before; now I’m doing them back-to-back.
As the year winds to end, what are some of the highlights of 2025 for you?
IZZY: I want 2026 to be more “tapped in.” 2025 was so absorbed in my own changes and the move. But the Burlington scene is amazing—*Greg Freeman*, Robber Robber, and Dari Bay all put out music. Something magical is happening up there.
What about your release shows? Were they memorable?
IZZY: The show at Baby’s All Right was definitely memorable. I don’t think I’ve been that nervous in a long, long time. There was something trippy about playing in New York after the album came out and having strangers singing the lyrics back to me. That was a trip. It felt like one of my favorite shows ever.
Do you play the cello live?
IZZY: I’d like to get there! Cello is a big part of the album, and my roommate actually plays it. But for now, the minivan can’t really fit one, and I’m a bit occupied on stage. One day, though.
Tell me about a song or artist that takes you back to a very specific time and place in your life.
IZZY: Off the top of my head, probably “Oh Yeah” by Roxy Music. Growing up, my dad was really into Roxy Music and Little Feat, bands that I dismissed as “dad music” back then. Something flipped once I grew up, and I finally got it. My dad passed away a couple of years ago, but I have this visceral memory of a trip to Michigan with him. We were sitting by the lake in the car, and that song came on, and we were just singing it together. It’s funny how music that sounded “horrible” to me as a kid now helps me understand him and his style. I’m getting to know him through his taste.
Speaking of parents, you involved your family in the artwork for the new record, right?
IZZY: Yeah, my mom took the cover photo, and that’s my stepsister in the shot. My mom and stepdad were really into photography. The artwork on the back and the inside fold is actually my dad’s art. He was a musician, too, but he was riddled with Parkinson’s way too early and never really got to put himself out there. I’m trying to tap into that more, taking him on the journey with me through my music rather than blocking it out.
That’s very cool. I saw the names on the credits and wondered if there was a connection. And there’s a photo of you as a kid, too?
IZZY: Yeah, that’s me and my childhood best friend, Megan, who is now Max. We were playing on the street for money. I think we made five dollars that day!
