Wild Nothing @ The Kazimier, Liverpool 18.03.13

Hoylake, Wirral counterparts to the Blacksburg, Virginia based headliners, Merseyside diviners of sound By the Sea are brilliantly well-suited to open for Wild Nothing.

Weaving a rich tapestry of guitar textures that blend seamlessly with the washes of keyboard generated sound and gauze-filtered vocals, the five piece stake out much of the same sonic terrain the headliners currently explore.

Neo-shoegaze gems ‘Dreamwaters’ and ‘Eveline’ shimmer alongside a clutch of excellent new tracks that mine the same rich seam located on last year’s debut LP, the eagerly awaited second instalment hopefully arriving sometime soon.

Building on the praise awarded to 2010 debut Gemini with their second offering Nocturne Wild Nothing created one of last year’s finest albums.

Bizarrely overlooked by many End of Year list compilers, the collection’s brilliantly realised mixture of strong songcraft and slow-burning melodies raised the bar for all dream-pop adherents.

Appearing live as a fully-fledged group, the five-piece band effortlessly brings songwriter Jack Tatum’s songs to life, rendering the tracks on a broader canvas than their home-recorded originals.

Commencing under the red and purple lights with Nocturne’s opening cut ‘Shadow’, the disc is played in almost its entirety, the swooning title track ideally suited for Sophia Coppola’s next film after The Bling Ring.

Still easing into the role of frontman, Tatum’s low-key presence on vocals and guitar occasionally betrays his onstage nerves, yet once the count-ins have commenced, any worries about him delivering the songs instantly dissipates.

The gorgeous jangle pop of ‘Only Heather’ breezing past on sunburst guitar arpeggios scores the biggest reception of the night with ‘Counting Days’ evocation of long-lost eighties pop architects Scritti Politi close behind.

The naggingly effective unison guitar riff that leads off ‘The Blue Dress’ gambols through similar pastures occupied by The Cure, while ‘Paradise’ sees the bass cranked up and the running time drawn out as an excursion in New Order territory ensues; bittersweet lyrics paired with a thudding electronic undertow to create a piece of sublime melancholy disco.

Called back for an encore the group descend from the dressing room to turn in a well-received cover of The Go-Betweens’ ‘Head Full of Steam’ and the track that first served notice of Tatum’s songwriting, ‘Summer Holiday’.

All in all a dazzling display of finely-honed audible treasures and returning to the subject of End of Year lists, come the close of 2013 an event that will be doubtless be found near the top of the category marked ‘Best gig’.