Wisp - If Not Winter - Import LP Record

Credits:

Wisp

Description:

On the cover of If Not Winter, Wisps Natalie Lu reclines in a white dress, shadowed by a looming forest that looks like it could devour her at any moment. It’s an apt visualization of the massive forces she holds in check on her debut album, whether its the towering sounds that surround her, or the pressure to continue the viral success of her 2024 breakout single, “Your Face.” If Not Winters broad strokes are the same as they were on the song that started it all: The influence of Whirr, Nothing, and Deftones remains in "Black Swan"s deluge of riffs, and Lus voice still has a whispery closeness that holds its own against "Breathe onto Me"s gusts of distortion. But where Lu recorded the vocals for "Your Face" at home, using her earbuds as a makeshift microphone, the circumstances of making If Not Winter were quite different. She took her time writing and recording, creating a more dramatic, mature kind of shoegaze thats equally formidable and beautiful. Wisp is still well-versed in the genre’s fundamentals. When Lu sings "Im falling down" and the guitars plunge with her on "After Dark," its a classic shoegaze moment; likewise, "Serpentine" is such a perfect song title, it couldve appeared on a shoegaze album released 30 years prior. However, Wisp doesnt copy her forebears, or her previous music, too closely. Lu brings more structure to If Not Winters peaks and valleys than the songs collected on the Pandora EP. On "Save Me Now," she flirts with pop, building the tension between its spun-sugar verses and crushing choruses for maximum release. While distortion reigns supreme, Lu doesnt let it drown out the instrumentations subtleties. "Sword" begins the album with electronic washes and acoustic strumming that hint at the albums broader palette as they build to an epic swell, while eerie keyboards pierce "Guide Light"s hazy guitars and trip-hop beats. “Latvia” is a particularly pleasant surprise: a pensive ambient collage of birdsong, church bells, and echoing piano, its a new expression of Lu’s devotion to setting a mood. If Not Winters biggest leap forward, however, is in her songwriting. Drawing from her journals but also the works of Sappho, Lus lyrics are as poetic as they are personal. Sometimes, her turns of phrase complete the mood she creates with her music, heightening the despairing title track ("Holding your heart/My skin rips apart") and deepening the scowl of "Mesmerized"s grungy chords (“I know it’s all just wishful thinking/I’ll see you when I’m dreaming"). Elsewhere, theyre the focal point: "I hope youre hurting, too," Lu sings with sweet sincerity on the acoustic closing track "All I Need," one of several songs on the album that could actually stand to be a little longer. Nevertheless, If Not Winter is the work of an artist who thinks and dreams big, and it secures Wisps place as one of the acts defining the sound of shoegaze in the 2020s. ~ Heather Phares

Tracklisting:

1. Sword2. Breathe onto me3. Save me now4. After dark5. Guide light6. Latvia7. If not winter8. Mesmerized9. Serpentine10. Get back to me11. Black swan12. All i need
1. Sword
2. Breathe onto me
3. Save me now
4. After dark
5. Guide light
6. Latvia
7. If not winter
8. Mesmerized
9. Serpentine
10. Get back to me
11. Black swan
12. All i need