From the snare shot that opens the song to soulful Memphis horns that cascade in a shower of golden notes, “Wait a Minute” shuffles exultantly into our hearts and gets us up and dancing. While the first verse moves slowly in spare fashion, with Egge’s vocals playing call and response with the bass, drums, and Wurlitzer, it spirals higher and higher culminating in the propulsive refrain, elevated by exalted harmonies: “If you want to move/You have to get uncomfortable.” “Wait a Minute,” with its joyful music, asks us to slow down, listen to one another, while at the same time it acknowledges how difficult it is for us to move from our deeply-held views on politics or even love. The first steps are to slow down, embrace discomfort, and start moving in ways that allow us to cross boundaries smoothly and fluidly. If you’re not smiling and moving across the floor as soon as “Wait a Minute” starts, then it’s time to take a look at your heart and recover your soul.
Says Ana Egge of “Wait a Minute”: “Often times things can be worked out if we take the time to slow down together and talk and listen. And we need to do that in order to stop reacting to each other. When we’re just reacting, we’re still stuck in ourselves.”
Director Martha Renzi’s dazzling video brilliantly captures and conveys the spirit and meaning of Egge’s song, which she co-write with Mick Flannery. Renzi describes her vision and the making of the video: “If you wanna move, it has to get uncomfortable….That lyric from ‘Wait a Minute’ was the inspiration for an all-improvised traveling dance party led by the effervescent and welcoming Selina Shida Hack. To prepare, we rehearsed in a few different locations accompanied by just my cellphone and a willingness to be rebuffed, gradually figuring out how to woo strangers to move with us. For the shoot itself, we scored a radiant late afternoon by the Hudson River. Add a choice handful of party starters, a talented surprise guest, and a generous helping of tentative tourists and willing locals. Dancing turns out to be a way to say hi, an invitation to play, and a challenge to move from awkward outsider to willing partner, all buoyed by the infectious groove of Ana Egge’s music.”
“Wait a Minute” opens Ana Egge’s new album, Between Us, out on StorySound Records on September 17, 2021.