You may have heard that , and that its embrace by a new generation of moody teens has pushed the genre beyond further reverb-drenched horizons. , a five-piece act hailing from Indianapolis, put their own spin on the trend: Last year’s EP featured callbacks to the band’s Midwest emo roots while paying homage to and in equal measure. Their full-length debut builds upon that wistful sound—you might call it emo-gaze, or gaze-pop—and matches it to the lethargic possibilities of a suburban summer’s dog days.
The album opens with the one-two punch of “Sick Sweet” and “Triple Seven”—both songs about having a crush, written by Wishy’s lead singer-songwriters/guitarists Kevin Krauter and Nina Pitchkites, respectively. With Krauter, the feeling is all hyperbole and desperation. “So starved for the sunshine/Won’t you be mine, be mine, be mine,” he pleads over a barrage of guitars and drums.
Pitchkites takes the dreamier route; singing over a backbeat reminiscent of -era , she imagines being carefree enough to fall head over heels with no regrets. Really, they’re two sides of the same coin: The lyrical differences add depth and variety to the band’s style, but at their core, Krauter and Pitchkites are tackling the same universal feelings—infatuation, restlessness, small-town ennui—that have concerned alt-rock bands since the genre’s inception. Despite the occasionally twee subject matter, Wishy also dabble in face-melting pedal effects, especially in .