Music / Psychedelia
Review: Wand, The Louisiana
Wand are everything a great band should be, they’ve dropped four pretty solid albums which pack a variety of soundscapes across the psych and garage world. They’ve also been filed next to all the right names. So when they have a canvas of a sold out show at The Louisiana then things should be pretty straight-forward right?
Although as they get things going with an assault of noisy guitar-led tracks, it seems that there’s quite little distinctive about this band in the live environment. Some of the nuances that cut through on track feel a little lost in the first half of their set. They’ve recently stepped out of a richly layered and noisy world with their latest album Plum and gone for something all-together more nuanced which was an interesting move for the band.
But tonight the variety in their sounds doesn’t so much excite but confuse – and while some people in the crowd seem to be significantly into it – others are left staring through bleary eyes. Although as the show progresses they have moments where it all seems to click and we’re given a glimpse of what they’re all about. For instance, the stormy intro of The Unexplored Map has people fiercely anticipating the opening notes. Also the self-titled new track Plum felt like it should be filling venues much bigger than The Louisiana with it’s cinematic piano intro.
While this show didn’t particularly leave you on your hands and knees begging for more – it’s certainly didn’t leave you disappointed that you’d witnessed it. There were sparks of genius which just felt a tad lost in the rest of the show. Wand know how to deliver a Beatles-esque vocal part, they know how to chuck out some monstrous guitar sounds and they know how to charm a crowd – but their overall identity just seems to be hard to pin down. I’ll still definitely keep spinning their albums and will make the effort to see how they develop when they next swing by the city.
Our newsletters emailed directly to you
