The Daily Spin, September 5
Wildermiss | Lost With You
Welcome back to the Daily Spin, the series in which I review 365 albums during 2023.
Each album will be given a rating on a scale from 0 to 10. You can look at the entire set here. Additionally, you can check out a list of my favorite song from each album right here.
Album: Lost With You (2017)
Artist: Wildermiss
Link:
Somewhere between FIFA music and the Lumineers, like a vaguely rural MisterWives, Wildermiss curate a really pleasant, if short, experience with 2017’s Lost With You, an album that accomplishes exactly as much as you’d think it would and almost nothing more - which is totally fine, in the end.
It’s one part MisterWives, one part Florence and the Machines, and a healthy dose of the rock of Foals that gives this a lot of its strongest moments, though it’s somewhat undercut by the fact that there’s a reason it’s easy to compare these guys to so many groups before them - mostly that other people have done this a million times over.
To make strong electronic pop-rock, you’ve gotta have something that really sets you apart. COIN did it through the wickedly gauzy guitars and California-surf sheen, Electric Guest did it through charmingly obtuse synths, and Smallpools did it through pure energy, while Wildermiss seem to lean into a folksier sound, more down to earth, and there are moments that it shines - like ‘Keep It Simple’, but too often it just feels like a cover of another band more than it does a unique project.
There’s a high floor here, regardless, because this is my favorite kind of music most of the time, but it does remind me a bit of potential unrealized, and that’s a shame.
Rating: 7.9/10
Best Tracks: Tunnel Vision; Keep It Simple
Worst Tracks: Carry Your Heart