Prepare for liftoff. The opening seconds of Wishy’s debut album Triple Seven find the Indianapolis band gearing up to soar. Layers of propulsive guitars enter the frame first — jangling, wailing, roaring — like a jet engine revving gorgeously, creating an instant sense of breathless anticipation. Wishy deliver on that promise when the rest of the band joins in, bringing rumbling bass and bashed-out drums and lush keyboard melodies into the mix. “Sick Sweet” is airborne and off to the races, a brisk blast of dynamic guitar-pop laced with dazzling amounts of melody.
This is standard practice for Wishy. The Paradise EP, released last December with Band To Watch honors from this very website, revealed a group that has firm control of its aesthetic and, more importantly, is writing songs strong enough to transcend fleeting genre trends. Triple Seven is twice as long and doubly impressive, stacking up song after stellar song into one of the finest indie rock debuts in recent memory. It’s 41 minutes of immaculate, energizing, eminently accessible music that swirls together countless retro reference points into a sound all Wishy’s own.
That’s an important aspect of the album’s appeal. Anyone can emulate a particular era, but rather than copying a certain band’s shtick, Wishy pull influence from all over the ’80s, ’90s, and circa Y2K, blending them into songs that only feel like treasured memories of late 20th century alternative radio.
There is shoegaze in the mix, of course, because this is a 2020s buzz band after all. There’s also the pristine guitar jangle of the Smiths and the Sundays, the Lemonheads’ fuzzed-out power-pop, Weezer’s massive walls of distortion, the Smashing Pumpkins’ gauzy textures and hefty arena-rock riffs, a crystalline emo lineage running from Jimmy Eat World to Oso Oso, and the kind of big-feelings teen-soap-opera pop-rock that’s lately been reclaimed by the likes of Soccer Mommy. “Honey” even calls back to the New Radicals’ “Get What You Give.” Close your eyes and it’s easy to picture some dweeby young protagonist attempting to woo Jennifer Love Hewitt.
The primary architects of this sound are Wishy’s leading tandem, Kevin Krauter and Nina Pitchkites. Krauter, a former member of Hoops and an established solo artist in his own right, shares lead vocal duties with Pitchkites, his childhood friend. Krauter brings a slightly bratty, open-hearted rawness to his delivery without ever letting his nasal tenor become grating. Pitchkites’ voice is softer and more reserved, a moonbeam to go along with Krauter’s blazing sunfire.
Taking turns in the spotlight but often bringing their voices together in harmony, they fixate on romance and longing, spinning yarns about the rush of attraction, the regret of missed connection, and the kind of anxious anticipation that puts a lovesick feeling in the pit of your stomach. “Woke up again with your name in my mouth/ Drive myself sick not to let it fall out,” Krauter sings on lead single “Love On The Outside.” “Just Like Sunday” begins with Pitchkites lamenting, “I waited too long to take you to the movies.” On grand finale “Spit,” the singers harmonize the refrain, “Who’s gonna break my heart? Who’s gonna wear my mind out?”
Those are feelings primarily associated with adolescence and early adulthood, and for many millennials, Wishy will be a fountain of youth, recalling not just the sounds but the yearnings of their formative years. But the songs are constructed so brilliantly and performed so passionately that they will likely appeal even to those for whom this sound elicits no nostalgia. The guitar work, in particular, is virtuosic but not showy. Krauter, Pitchkites, and cohorts including Dmitri Morris and Steve Marino deploy a wide array of tones and techniques, sometimes cohering into an immersive blur and sometimes bursting into the front of the mix with gnarly string bends or Strokes-like interplay. The lead parts are so prominent and effective that they almost become another voice interacting with Krauter and Pitchkites, leading to an abundance of hooks that play off each other beautifully. The harmonic onslaught is overwhelming in the best way, mirroring the all-consuming crushes Wishy so often sing about.
Gambling is a recurring motif throughout Triple Seven, from the casino-themed cover art and title track to the “Sick Sweet” chorus, “Well it’s a sick sweet life and I’m gambling it all tonight.” It’s a fitting enough metaphor for the risks associated with bearing your heart and navigating the dating pool, but it works just as well as a picture of a new band hoping to hit big against the odds. More than ever, it takes both luck and skill for an upstart talent to stand out and to stand a chance in this ailing industry. Bet on Wishy.
Triple Seven is out 8/16 on Winspear.
Other albums of note out this week:
• Charly Bliss’ Forever
• Horse Jumper Of Love’s Disaster Trick
• Tinashe’s Quantum Baby
• Post Malone’s F-1 Trillion
• Combat’s Stay Golden
• Morgan Wade’s Obsessed
• Starflyer 59’s Lust For Gold
• Shelby Lynne’s Consequences Of The Crown
• Ray LaMontagne’s Long Way Home
• Foster The People’s Paradise State Of Mind
• Chuck Johnson’s Sun Glories
• Hamish Hawk’s A Firmer Hand
• Dark Tranquillity’s Endtime Signals
• Melinda Sullivan & Larry Goldings’ Big Foot
• Matty’s POPS
• Family Dinner’s God Looks Out For Fools
• The Script’s Satellites
• Jumaane Smith’s Come On Home
• Bay Ledges’ Rivers
• Rosie Lowe’s Lover, Other
• Steve Forbert’s Daylight Savings Time
• Nikka Costa’s Dirty Disco
• Tama Gucci’s Notes To Self
• Pom Poko’s Champion
• Devon Allman’s Miami Moon
• Thotcrime’s Connection Anxiety
• Lindsay Reamer’s Natural Science
• Veronica Lewis’ Too Late For Tears
• Lesibu Grand’s Triggered
• The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys’ Wanderers Like Me
• Blind Pilot’s In The Shadow Of The Holy Mountain
• ACT!’s Face To Face, Day By Day
• Josh Turner’s This Country Music Thing
• Yea Big And Tatsu Aoki’s The Hand And The Moon, Part Two
• Mark Ambor’s Rockwood
• Jessica Ackerley’s All Of The Colours Are Singing
• Jontavious Willis’ West Georgia Blues
• We Are Scorpio’s We Are Scorpio
• The Soundcarriers’ Through Other Reflections
• Bay Ledges’ Rivers
• Isaia Huron’s I’ll Finish The Lyrics Later
• Michael Reynolds’ Tarnished Nickel Sky
• Seefeel’s Everything Squared
• Hank May’s Tails And Trails
• Slippers’ So You Like Slippers?
• Narsick’s Narsick
• Leathers’ Ultraviolet
• Ben Sollee’s Long Haul
• Muscadine Bloodline’s The Coastal Plain
• Tre Loaded’s LOADED
• Durkalini’s CHURCH & SURF
• Willi Carlisle’s Tales From Critterland live album
• Palehound’s Live At First Congressional Church live album
• Jon Benjamin: Jazz Daredevil’s The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Of The (Unproduced) Film…The Jazz Daredevil
• Meghan Trainor’s Timeless (Deluxe)
• Velocity Girl’s UltraCopacetic (Copacetic Remixed And Expanded)
• Creed’s Human Clay (25th Anniversary Edition)
• Panda Bear & Sonic Boom’s RESET Mariachi EP
• GEL’s Persona EP
• Hozier’s Unaired EP
• Koreless’ Deceltica EP
• RIXE’s Tir Groupé EP
• Aoife O’Donovan & Hawktail’s Aoife O’Donovan & Hawktail Play All My Friends EP
• KATSEYE’s SIS (SOFT IS STRONG) EP
• SLOE JACK’s PLANET JACK EP
• Skylar Simone’s Shiver EP
• Girl Gordon’s Corruptor EP
• Bella White’s Five For Sliver EP
• Rebounder’s Sundress Songs EP
• Saloon Dion’s Where You’ll Find Me EP
