Childhood lingers throughout your life. Try as you might, a fully grown adult will never quite appreciate sunny days, fresh cut lawns and epic football games as much as an eight year old.
A solo project for Jack Tatum, Wild Nothing seem obsessed with memory. A sense of lost joy slips through debut album ‘Gemini’, made explicit by song titles such as ‘Live In Dreams’ and ‘The Witching Hour’. Stylistically indebted towards the awkward period when the 80s crashed into the 90s, ‘Gemini’ is almost an Impressionistic take on these influences. The record sounds like something only half-remembered, an illusion draped in reverb.
Sure, there are direct comparisons. The Cure’s golden period of pop hits for one, alongside a lasting knowledge of Creation singles. The whole Ride technique of turning guitars into crashing waves ripples through ‘Gemini’, the watery effects smudging the edges of the record into something new.
Of course, there are also some faults. Wild Nothing being a solo project, Jake Tatum is left alone in the studio and as a result aspects of the album become meditative to the point of being withdrawn. Tracks such as ‘Bored Games’ may replicate childhood boredom but begin to drain the life out of the listener.
However the faults almost add to the charm. ‘Gemini’ isn’t a perfect document but then neither is memory. The album really needs to be appreciated as a whole, rather than cut down into separate chunks. A beautiful document, propelled yet weighed down by melancholy.
7/10
Dig this? Dig deeper! The Cure, Ride, The Durutti Column
