WSBU Presents: Pirate Radio
Apr 16, 2013
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You NEED to listen to: Wild Nothing!
:: July 12, 2010 :: by Pat Hosken
Somewhere between the ‘80s jangly pop of John Hughes movie soundtracks and the ‘90s twinkling fuzz of Smashing Pumpkins’ Siamese Dream falls Virginia’s Wild Nothing. On record, Wild Nothing is singer/songwriter Jack Tatum alone, but he’s in great company with himself as he performs lead and backing vocals in addition to all guitar, bass and drum parts. The band’s full-length, Gemini, was released on June 3.
“Do you remember the lightning storm?” Tatum asks in “Live in Dreams,” the album’s star-speckled opener. “It was the first time I really felt you.” References to dreams are only appropriate on this album—it captures a certain foggy mood, like a faint haze after an early evening nap. Equal parts multicolored, cloudy sunset and milky meteor shower, Gemini soars above your head, just slightly out of reach.
But don’t be disheartened.
Tatum’s a grounded guy, capturing the simple, observant joys of daily life—fond, fun memories of romance, high hopes and expectations—in his lyrics, littered around like crispy leaves on a front lawn during a cool October night.
Delivered in a distant swirl, Tatum’s words are carried by occasional warm synth bursts and alternately chirping and pounding percussion. The ingredients are all here—sunny riffs, dreamy melodies, layered, humming vocals—to replicate that floating feeling when you first drove your parents’ car alone with the windows down in summer.
Check out "Summer Holiday":