It isn’t often in life that you get second chances. Whether it’s with a cute girl whose number you don’t ask for or a band whose name you don’t remember to write down, rarely do you get a second pass. Wild Nothing is a band that I was lucky enough to have re-enter my orbit and as they will shortly be debuting their sophomore LP the timing seems appropriate to have them make an appearance as my song of the week.
I first was introduced to Jack Tatum and his band Facepaint on a trip to my beloved college town of Blacksburg, VA in October 2009. Something about the ethereal sound, a perfect crowd size, and a couple PBRs struck me that night. I instructed my friends at Gillie’s that I needed to remember this band so I could check them out online later. Well, as with many things worth remembering, and even more that occur adjacent to Hokie football, I lost their name with that weekend.
A couple years later while listening through Hype Machine’s Best Albums of 2010 on Hype Machine I found myself drawn to #44, Wild Nothing’s Gemini. After taking pass after pass through the album, I started digging into the band’s Wikipedia page. The pieces quickly came together at that point, that band I saw playing for 60 people in Blacksburg had started receiving national attention.
I picked the title track off of their 2010 release as the song of the week over their new single Shadows (which is also awesome) largely because there isn’t much in the way of new live videos on YouTube yet. That said, the track Gemini is one of my favorite off the album and if you’re looking to learn what Dream Pop is all about, this one nails it. If you dig the sound, check out more of their catalog and additionally the band Viiv. Viiv is opening for Wild Nothing on their current tour and I’m excited to report I’ll be seeing that billing live in DC at the Rock and Roll Hotel in September.