What to say about Wild Moth’s record release show at Thee Parkside last Saturday? Well, it wasn’t for the faint of heart.
When The Bay Bridged booked Wild Moth to play our Noise Pop Happy Hour this past February, they were just getting settled into being a four-piece, and working through music to soon be compiled into their first full-length for Asian Man Records. In addition to self-releasing an eponymous 10-inch, Wild Moth released their “Mourning Glow” 7-inch on AMR last year. The Bay Bridged premiered side A of Over, Again back in August, and the entire record was officially released this week.
Truthfully, Over, Again proves just how much wisdom and emphasis on aesthetic this young band holds, with the album’s tightened tracking and DIY-spirited recording quality (again they worked with Jack Shirley at Atomic Garden Studio). It starts out strong with bold, guiltless melody, then transitions to the aggressively punk “Souvenir (No Future)” — only to take a slight pause with the interlude, “Coma.” Fast forward through the second half of the record, and “Pt. Dume” concludes with abrupt optimism. Drummer Cal Tung was all the more explosive on Saturday, adding lightning fast fills where they didn’t exist previously, and an overall energy that raised Wild Moth’s performance to a level adequate for the album’s celebration.
Over, Again‘s peaks and valleys reflect sophisticated songwriting, and while the mediocre sound system of a bar venue may mean you lose some of that subtle, high-end melody heard better on recordings, all of the set interludes were inversely affected. Rather, these heavy, two-minute segments were my favorite part of the most recent sets I’ve seen, both on Saturday and at the very memorable one inside of a cave:
Support on this album release show came from Permanent Collection, Tender Buttons and No Tongue, all of whom offered phenomenal and uniformly loud sets. It’s safe to say that between the bands at this show, and a handful of others (yes, this includes Terry Malts), the nostalgic, melodic vein of punk is alive and doing well in the region.
