Album Review: Wild Nothing - Nocturne

Wild Nothing
Nocturne
Rating: Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It

Wild Nothing's 2010 debut album Gemini wore its influences on its sleeve, drawing comparisons to 80s alt-guitar bands like Cocteau Twins, Smiths, The Church, and about any of the shoegaze titans. What set that album apart was the obvious love for those influences yet their dogged determination not to specifically ape them. There was a charming ruggedness and edge to the songs on that record, a willingness to just try something for the hell of it and see if it stuck. With follow up Nocturne, Wild Nothing, led by Jack Tatum, don't really step out on any limbs with their sound, the guitars are still shimmery and dreamy, and Tatum's vocals are firmly fixed in a state of bemused airiness. it is obvious from the opening tracks that the production budget was greatly increased, each note hanging in the air precisely and delicately. Gone, however, is that go-for-broke quality that made Gemini such a gem. Nocturne's 11 tracks float along in a hazy ether of reverb, which makes these tracks flow in and out of one another deliberately, coming together as more of a series of variations on a theme. While this isn't necessarily a bad thing, by record's end you are not really left with the distinct notion that the songs were different. But all the same, one cannot deny that these songs are beautifully produced and rendered.

The album starts off with the glossy shimmer of "Shadow," the crystalline guitars pushed along by haunting strings.



"Midnight Shadow" draws from the first album's approach, adding a echoing set of drum patterns and slightly darker guitar spin.



But from there, the album sort of gets stuck in neutral, with too many tracks sharing the same mid-tempo beat and reliance on shimmering guitar chords. "Nocturne," while gorgeous, hits its high point early before foundering in a flatline,



"Only Heather" coasts along on a chugging guitar line but doesn't really do much with it,



while "Disappear Always" draws a gorgeous picture straight from the Go-Betweens' playbook, its initially melody is disrupted too often by discordant bursts of electric guitar.



Things only pick up in the details of a few tracks. "Through The Grass" adds some delicate Fairlight CMI sounding keyboard washes throughout which adds a haunting quality to the track,



rising and falling synth washes along with a meaty bassline push forward with 80s funk guitars on "Paradise,"



and the guitars are more direct on "The Blue Dress" which adds some interesting percussion to the mix.



These types of more texturally interesting songs come few and far between to make a more distinct impact on Nocturne. The layers and layers of pristine guitar chords wash over you as you are listening to it, and lulls you into a bit of a fog. It made me long for the everything but the kitchen sink approach of Gemini. While this album is not a disaster in the least, or even a sophomore slump, it's just enough to tantalize you until the next record, when hopefully Wild Nothing with get a little more wild.

Rating Scale:

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top releases of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and piques one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.