Music, Print, Reviews September 17, 2012

Review: Wild Nothing at Larimer Lounge

by Melissa Jones

Dream pop outfit Wild Nothing makes music perfect for  listening to on cool, rainy days, and it’s even better when you catch their live show on a damp, chilly Colorado evening.   Wild Nothing is touring in support of its second album, Nocturne, and made a stop at at the Larimer Lounge in Denver last night.  One man band Jack Tatum, who is responible for all sounds you hear on both Wild Nothing recordings, tours with a backing band that perfectly translated the feel of the albums.

As a concert venue, the Larimer Lounge has some drawbacks:  it’s really small, really loud, and really, really, hot.  On the flip side, some of these limitations are what makes the Larimer Lounge such a fun place to see a show. It’s intimate, tickets are cheap, lots of parking spots, and you might catch the band walking around and hanging out before the show.  In fact, with all the positives, you might not mind that  it feels like a sauna at times.

The fans that packed the place Wednesday night didn’t seem to mind the heat as Wild Nothing started in on songs from its debut album, Gemini.  The ’80’s inspired sound that Tatum has been cultivating was in full effect.  Complete with synthesizers, the fuzzy, dreamy, pop songs had the crowd swaying and shoe gazing to the mild beats and introspective lyrics.  The audience had no trouble getting into the new songs, which sounded fresh and focused. Nocturne doens’t deviate from the Wild Nothing sound, so fans should find a lot about it to like.  Wild Nothing played a great set that was everything a die hard fan wanted and a good introduction to the band for newer fans. 

DIIV, a young rock band from New York City, was the opening act. They played a short set full of reverberating hushed melodies sprinkled with screaming vocals, heavy bass and drum rhythms, and plenty of head banging.  A band obviously inspired by Nirvana, they were fun to watch, sounded great, and are definitely worth keeping an ear out for.

 

 

Leave a comment