Song of the Day: Kid Wave - Wonderlust

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJ’s think you should hear. Today’s song, featured on The Midday Show with Cheryl Waters, is “Wonderlust” by Kid Wave from the 2015 album Wonderlust on Heavenly Recordings / [PIAS].

Kid Wave - Wonderlust (MP3)

Running their melodic instincts through distorted guitars and deft-but-loose vocal hooks, Kid Wave's shoegazy rock connects more immediately and with more nuance than many of their contemporaries. Swedish-born frontwoman Lea Emmery arrived in London in 2011 and began recording tracks and posting them on Bandcamp under the moniker Kid Wave. Gradually, Emmery became a regular in London's still-thriving rock scene, and was joined by bandmates Mattias Bhatt, Serra Petale, and Harry Deacon. In 2014, the group signed to the revered label Heavenly Recordings for an EP, Gloom, and a full-length, this year's Wonderlust, arrived before the band set out for the 2015 festival season. Emmery claims that she's "always running around" on album standout "Wonderlust", but it never sounds like a claim that she's tired. Quite the opposite, actually. Wrapping her guitars in layers of melodic distortion, Emmery sounds indefatigable, elliptically rallying her bandmates into a unabashedly poppy melody. "Wonderlust" is undoubtedly catchy, but it never sounds world-beating, content to simply allow its cool-eyed confidence speak for itself.

Kid Wave have a series of UK gigs planned for the rest of the year, but if they announce plans to come over to North America, that news will be over on their Facebook and Twitter. Below, watch the video for "Wonderlust".