Wand
-SOUP KITCHEN, MANCHESTER-
The modern psychedelic scene is known for its ingenuity, originality and prolificness, and with an abundance of bands like King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard and Thee Oh Sees who produce fresh, hard hitting, tripped-out anthems that draw from the heyday of psychedelia whilst still managing to sound fresh and organic, it might seem like a saturated market. However, after three high octane albums in just 14 months throughout 2014 and 2015 and a new album, Plum, in 2017, Wand are carving a name for themselves in the modern psych scene.
Tonight they play Soup Kitchen in Manchester and as I walk into the cold damp basement, the support act, East Sister, have just set up. What starts as a horrid cacophony of failing arms, overly delayed guitars and drab vocals, soon becomes a dreamy mix of Bombay Bicycle Club and Tame Impala, full of round bombing basslines, washed out cymbals and ethereal vocal harmonies. As the set goes on the band seem to warm up and the crowd, sensing this, congregate round the small, shoddy stage, all slowly swaying and oscillating in time to the soft, swelling keys, simple washy drums and delicate delayed guitars that ring out across the venue. All eyes are fixated on the stage, almost as if all those within the congregation have entered a trance like state, and have been swept away from this drab damp-ridden basement in the middle of Manchester, above the clouds, flying upon the wings of angelic harmonies and soft delicate dream pop. However, within a moment’s notice, the crowd come crashing back down to earth, in a flurry of feedback and high octane frantic pysch rock.
As Wand take centre stage, nothing could prepare us for what lies ahead. From the off, Wand seem to be constantly teetering on the verge of destruction, with most songs seeming to completely collapse into an off-kilter, abrasive chasm, only to be brought back with a line of feedback cutting through the mix. Their set passes in a seamless, disorientating haze of mind-melting riffs, Billy Corgan-esque snarls and cascading pounding drum fills, with only the less abrasive and angular songs in their repertoire, such as ‘Bee Karma’, standing out in the stream of woozy, chaotic, energetic psych rock.
It’s clear that a despite a brief break and line up change, Wand are still on top of their game and are well on their way to the take the psych scene by storm.
