With the upstart of shoegaze revivalism into the modern music scene, Wisp indulges within its feverish mist and all of its comfort. ‘Pandora’ clearly settles into its influence for better and for worse, with the hushed aspects contrasted with bulky compositions having enough quality to overlook past some melodic and vocal flaws.
From the injection of Disco and Pop Punk in the modern sonic sphere for the past few years, there seems to be a reinvigoration to shovel out sounds of the past by the new generation of music enthusiasts who are falling in love with those soundscapes and are willing to carry their influences to new albeit sometimes limiting success, where the execution can leave the replication feeling way less spectacular as it should be. However, that nostalgic train does not stop as there is a heap of fascination towards the general alt-rock scene, most specifically the ravenous waves of grunge and shoegaze that’s helped out with Gen Z’s craze towards aesthetics, and with those two genres fitting both the hard and soft edges, they soon get more waves of revivalism through spaces like Tiktok. Speaking of, Wisp started out making her music in Tiktok, where the shoegaze influence sweeps through on ‘Your Face’, a cut released in 2023 that got enough traction for Interscope Records to acknowledge her talent, eventually linking up on that label and putting out her debut EP a year later, ‘Pandora’.
Within this EP, there is a tranquil aspect contrasted with the instrumental bulk that works well in earnest, especially when Wisp’s hushed vocals paired with her wistful yearnings on the lyrical side is a nice fit for the compositions and production that ramps the rumbling textures to the forefront. Through this, it creates a mist that has enough charm to work with, like the spiky drums and guitar passages on ‘Pandora’ that effectively leap up on the chorus, a characteristic that makes ‘Enough for you’ potent with its roaring guitars and punchy drum melodies, and ‘See you soon’ has a meditative flair from the straightforward guitar flourishes that pops up across the track, gliding to-and-fro as the melodies willow out before going back again to an expressive exhale.
However, despite all that, the EP doesn’t go far in embracing distinct elements to allow Wisp to stick out within this brand of shoegaze and dream pop, especially when there are flaws that shake the project apart. Particularly towards how the melodies tend to blur together even despite the embrace of hooks across the EP, not helped out with Wisp’s intentional hushed voice that might accentuate the small-scaled romanticism of the writing but could have sharpened up her delivery for the individual melodies to pop out the page rather than get whisked around and becoming less evocative as a result.
All-in-all, ‘Pandora’ is a starting point where the overall concept and stylings of the shoegaze and dream pop scene that Wisp is deeply influenced by have good enough execution, but not exactly remarkable despite all of it. Because, as much as there is potent muscular swell on the instrumentation paired with Wisp’s lilting vocal and writing tone that works alongside it, it doesn’t go far for Wisp to get into her own unique lane as the overall EP sticks within the influences clearly and nothing much else. There might be some dullness within the box, but the clarity that Wisp provides might be enough for the specks of potential to glisten somehow.
Favorite Tracks: ‘Pandora’, ‘Enough for you’, ‘See you soon’
Least Favorite Track: ‘Luna’