Little Wins

All things come to their logical conclusion. This is the path that lead songwriter and multi-instrumentalist-turned-producer, Andrew Vait, to Little Wins. His Seattle powerhouse duo, SISTERS, was formed in 2014 and has enjoyed a four-year run of small victories; opening for Allen Stone at Chateau Ste Michelle within their first four live shows; appearing on the main stages of Sasquatch! Music Festival, Capitol Hill Block Party and NYC Pride; their song, Buck, was placed in a national Toyota ad campaign; and they are now signed to Tender Loving Empire - a boutique record label in Portland, OR.

After SISTERS’ first tour of Europe concluded in late 2017, Vait discovered that a surplus of emotions from world-travel (and subsequently returning to the American hotbed of dispiriting political affairs) produced a proportionate surplus in creativity, and, being a student of social justice, Vait began writing songs with a new narrative. Where “joy as an act of revolutionary defiance in the face of oppression” defines SISTERS, Vait is now carefully considering his complicity in systems of oppression as a white male in the music industry, and he is retracing his own family lines, which includes battles with clinical depression and addiction. Taking major influence from WOC artists; namely, Solange, SZA, and Janelle Monáe, Vait seeks to honor and pay tribute to the black artists who have shaped modern music and culture. He stands tall among other white artists who have followed in similar footsteps - Francis and the Lights, Bon Iver, James Blake, Steve Winwood, Peter Gabriel, to name a few.

After writing the bedrock of songs that would become the first Little Wins singles, Vait shared a handful of demos with his friend, Nate Mercereau, who produces and records with the likes of Jay-Z, Leon Bridges, and John Legend. Mercereau persuaded Vait to explore additional production elements and encouraged him to finish the recordings on his own. Armed with a MacBook Air, a MIDI controller, and a Shure SM7b, Vait, who plays guitar, piano, saxophone, flute, clarinet, and drums, and has extensive experience with analog synthesizers, turned Garageband (his DAW at the time) inside-out and produced his first two singles, almost exclusively utilizing Garageband instruments. He brought the tracks to Andy Park (engineer/producer for Pedro The Lion, Ciara, Noah Gundersen), and together, they finished the mixes.

The lead single, Let Me Into Your Heart, is about recognizing and facing fear; struggling to find a home and a voice while celebrating small victories, like the warmth of the sun and conquering despair. It was premiered by KEXP on September 12th, 2018.