Wisp – “Pandora”

Wisp on YouTube.

Rating: 3.5 out of 4.

Happy EP release day to an artist who blew me away when I saw her live—her second-ever show apparently—a few months ago in the back room of a posh Chinese restaurant full of well-dressed young folk experiencing the mind-melting power of shoegaze and actual songwriting in real-time. The now maybe-too-well-documented rise of Wisp and what she may or may not represent to an entire online community makes for decent copy. I’m just thankful her music is good enough (sometimes great enough) to outrun any ongoing guitar rock trend. This is a too-long way of saying that Wisp makes my insides melt into pink sugar, which is how I once described My Bloody Valentine in a magazine. It’s a compliment to Wisp that when I listen to “Pandora,” I’m not thinking about the ’90s.

-Brady Gerber

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