WILD NOTHING – GEMINI

Virginian-born Jack Tatum makes music that could best be described as a cocktail of the 1980’s new romantic and the American shoegaze movement of the early 1990’s. So this is a nostalgic sound, peppered with the remnants of bygone eras (most notably in the abundance of digital reverb and heavy reliance on trebly synths and chorusy guitars clanging away to weave its spell. Certainly there’s elements of the breezy irony of Yo La Tengo’s pop moments, and the kind of smarmy self-loathing of The Smiths and The Cure. But there is also a sense of relaxed optimism here – the dreamy surf-pop of Summer Holiday shows off Tatum’s skill at weaving satisfying pop from very few words and chords – each “whoa” and “hoo” is cooed through layers of drain-pipe delays and crafted into a very subliminally haunting track. As the record progresses, we get to hear many of the different sounds he has conjured in his bedroom – drum machines, casiotones and ultra-clean electric guitars continually mesh into a surprisingly palatable wall of sound. Sometimes it’s exceptionally uplifting – the sweet melancholy of O, Lilac and Chinatown are highlights. Tatum’s voice is not much to write home about, but that doesn’t seem to matter – much like his higher-profile peers Bradford Cox or Jason Quever, he has a way of constructing the musical world around his limitations that feels convincingly ethereal, and well worth repeat listens to pick up the details.

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