On Could 25, 2010, Brooklyn’s Captured Tracks launched a pair of homespun debuts by bands whose re-interpretations of first-wave indie pop would assist spearhead a wave of millennial DIY nostalgists. Since then, Seashore Fossils and Wild Nothing have charted parallel paths: Each adopted their debuts with a studio-grade sharpening of their sound, then pivoted to baroque songcraft with classic electrical keys and saxophone solos. Following a joint tour celebrating the bands’ tenth anniversaries, their respective frontmen every settled down to start out households earlier than returning this 12 months with unusually private albums that re-examine their previous work by way of the lens of fatherhood. Seashore Fossils’ Dustin Payseur returned to his surf-pop fashion on June’s Bunny; Wild Nothing’s Jack Tatum finds new which means in his dreamscape on Maintain, rising with a few of his most touching tracks so far.
Maintain was written shortly after each the delivery of Tatum’s son and the onset of the pandemic. The lack to tour or guide studio time, coupled with the parental studying curve, compelled him to rethink his priorities—a shift that’s mirrored within the exploratory nature of his new work. In distinction to the distinct aesthetics of 2016’s Lifetime of Pause and 2012’s Nocturne, Maintain adopts a refreshing sense of caprice. Self-producing for the primary time since 2010, Tatum dabbles in one-off style experiments, toys with eccentric lyrical gadgets, and embraces a maximalist ethos that units this album aside.
Loosening up Wild Nothing’s sound additionally permits Tatum to peel again the obscurity of his lyrics. On “Pulling Down the Moon (Earlier than You),” the Peter Gabriel-inspired nearer, he indulges in a newfound sentimentality, describing the renewed function he’s present in fatherhood and the nervousness that comes with it. “An entire existence I can maintain/However gained’t ever weigh me down,” he sings, reverb-gated snares and delayed lead guitar echoing throughout. His vocals nudge to the entrance of the combo, a deluge of psychedelic results highlighting the vulnerability in every phrase.
Probably the most gripping moments dissect Tatum’s insecurities with surreal, self-deprecating humor. “Suburban Options,” impressed by his transfer from Los Angeles again to his house state of Virginia, second-guesses the need for domesticity. He footage his new setting as an ironic commercial for the bourgeois life-style, soundtracked by a chintzy array of synths. “Take an enormous chew,” he instructions within the cartoonishly pitched-down voice of a industrial announcer. The place goals as soon as represented escapism in his music, the unconscious now feels often antagonistic. It’s unusual to listen to a Wild Nothing monitor to stick so tightly to an idea, however Tatum grounds the fabric in his trademark stuttering rhythm guitar and booming motorik beats.
When Tatum returns to goals, he appears desirous to get up. In “Histrion,” he recounts a well-known nightmare: standing in entrance of an viewers and forgetting each phrase. (Within the closing verse, a crane hoists him offstage.) Bolstered by warbling Auto-Tune, he belts with unprecedented abandon, slamming piano chords and wailing in a Todd Rundgren falsetto to amplify the ecstasy. This capacity to shock is Maintain’s biggest asset. After dabbling in Eno-esque ambient sounds, straight-ahead shoegaze, and dishevelled beatcraft, Tatum lets the layers of nostalgia overlap when “Dial Tone” calls again to that outdated, breezy jangle circa Golden Haze, a time when Wild Nothing’s ’80s revivalism set a brand new benchmark for bed room pop. He can nonetheless rekindle its magic on cue.
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