Send "Wild Nothing " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Pitchfork |
 Whether digging through the crates at a used CD store, or plumbing the depths of Amazon, one of the great thrills of being a music fan is discovering a certain style that appeals to you, and seeing just how deeply you can immerse yourself in it before coming up for air. Gemini felt like Jack Tatum was sharing that feeling with all of us-- that first experience with a Smiths or Cocteau Twins album when you wonder, "Where has this been all of my life?" That he made his album stand out amidst a formidable number of similar acts was a testament to how well he could extract one recognizable cell from the past and spawn it into something wholly his own, reverential but hardly derivative.Golden Haze initially appears to be the culmination of Wild Nothing's big year, collecting the previously available Evertide EP, a Gemini B-side, and two new tracks. But as a State of Wild Nothing Report, it shows that Tatum is nowhere near done messing with his favorite musical ingredients. While still enamored with 1980s UK indie, like so much of Gemini, the maneuvering here sneaks up on you. The sunny jungle of "Summer Holiday" is almost completely forgone for something sleeker and darker, more along the lines of Gemini standouts "Chinatown" or "Bored Games". It's a good look for him, considering Tatum's knack for succinct romantic pleas ("beautiful one, I want to go where you are") and weaving chains of floral guitar notes, both of which propel the gorgeous title track. It's one of Wild Nothing's strongest singles, but it's also where he starts to tweak the arrangements, particularly with drums. The textural mesh of its severely-gated snare and sleigh bells recalls the Cure's "Just Like Heaven", and Tatum's portentous and maudlin vocal range invites further comparisons to Robert Smith....full text |
| Contactmusic |
| When you've already released arguably the best debut album of 2010 the only way is down, right? Wrong. For Jack Tatum, the creator and songwriting force behind Wild Nothing, it seems 'Gemini' was just a mere appetiser for things to come. While that record's fragile beauty recalled the halcyon days of The Field Mice or The Cure's more salient pop sojourns, the three track stop-gap EP 'Evertide', released earlier this summer, suggested he'd merely tipped the iceberg with its predecessor, having added a touch of electronica and melodic shoegaze to an already sensual melting pot of influences. 'Golden Haze' collects those three excerpts from 'Evertide', the title track being one, and marries them with three other new compositions all of which further illustrate Tatum's diverse array of influences, while highlighting his own blossoming talent in the process. Where the lead song actually fits onto the end of 'Gemini' like a trailer for a sequel to a blockbuster movie, its lyrical content seemingly detailing an unrequited love story as its composer frequently makes reference to his 'beautiful one', the deceptively tranquil 'Quiet Hours' and na<ve innocence of 'Asleep' both trace the same earnest landlines as a young Nick Drake, albeit with the musical backing of jangly guitars straight out of a Melody Maker guide to British independent bands circa 1986. The New Order-esque overtones of 'Take Me In' will be familiar to those in possession of the aforementioned 'Evertide', as will 'Your Rabbit Feet''s winsome melancholia. Better still however is the closing 'Vultures Like Lovers', a reverb heavy pop song that sounds both complex due its layered arrangements proffering every component from the vocals down yet simplistic in the way Tatum conveys his innermost thoughts with such effortless poise....full text |
| Thelineofbestfit |
| Wild Nothing is the moniker that Jack Tatum likes to use for his dreamy pop/rock one man band, but you knew that already. Tatum has gone from a relatively anonymous being to one of indie’s fastest rising stars of 2010, and not without reason. His debut Gemini may not have been an LP covering a wide spectrum of sounds, but instead it was a delicious specific homage to the indie music of the 80′s. C-86 jangly guitars, pessimistic lyrical notions and deceptively catchy but understated melodies all being present. Suffice to say, it was met with critical acclaim and will no doubt go down as one of the best debuts of the year. However not content with just releasing an LP, Wild Nothing has now released an EP dreamly titled Golden Haze. As suspected, the six tracks are more of a continuation, instead of an evolution, of Tatum’s established shoegazey and ever-s0- slighty trance-inducing sound. Thankfully, these aren’t just a collection of rehashed ideas/tracks that never made the final cut the first time around, with the songs being more of a display of how the Virginian born and bred musician is dangerously close to perfecting his craft. Take title track and opener ‘Golden Haze’ with it’s nonchalant, albeit wistful, manner, a melody so strong it sounds instantly familiar, it’s this kind of fake sense of acquaintance that makes each track so addicitive. As for Tatum’s vocal it’s versatile throughout the 20 mintues, whether it’s a melancholy nasal tone (‘Golden Haze’), a deep dancefloor boom (‘Take Me In’) or a reverb drenched falsetto (‘Vultures Like Lovers’), it always seems appropriate and not just a desperate attempt to show variety....full text |
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