FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/wave21band
In their eponymous new
full-length album, Wave 21 comes roaring out of the Canadian wilderness to find
themselves smackdab in the middle of the Nashville spotlight and changing the
game for every country music band around them. In ten elegantly stylized
original songs, they assert themselves as one of the biggest players in the
international pop music scene and easily the most exciting band to watch
entering the next decade and beyond.
I had a chance to listen to Wave 21 ahead of its release this year, and although I was expecting to hear something pretty terrific based on the sterling reputation that the band has built up for themselves, I could have never predicted that I would be as moved as I was by what I heard. Wave 21 aren’t just making the best brand of country music to be introduced in 2018; they’re making the most charming pop music in all of the western hemisphere right now, and having a really good time along the way.
I had a chance to listen to Wave 21 ahead of its release this year, and although I was expecting to hear something pretty terrific based on the sterling reputation that the band has built up for themselves, I could have never predicted that I would be as moved as I was by what I heard. Wave 21 aren’t just making the best brand of country music to be introduced in 2018; they’re making the most charming pop music in all of the western hemisphere right now, and having a really good time along the way.
My favorite song from
this record was “It’ll Be One of These Days,” but “Set Me Free” was a very
close runner-up. Both tracks recall the golden age of country pop’s apex of
success back in the late 1990s, and yet neither feel like a throwback to the
past. Every song on Wave 21 is deeply unique to our modern,
innovative times for sure, as I don’t think that most of these songs would have
even been creatable with the limited palates that were producing records twenty
years ago. Country music doesn’t need anyone else singing about cheating wives
and drunken bar brawls in a dusty, half-yearning half-jaded voice anymore. What
it does need is more bands like this one, who aren’t scared of change but
instead make an entire career out of embracing it and seeing where the winds of
creativity take them. I don’t think it matters for Wave 21 whether or not they
get a platinum record or dominate the airwaves with their music videos. If
their melodies have reached even one person, then their mission has been
accomplished.
REVERBNATION: https://www.reverbnation.com/wave21band
If you’re in the market for a colorful,
diversely appointed record that rebels against stereotypes and the analogue way
of doing things, I would highly recommend checking out Wave 21’s latest
collection of country anthems. This is bar none the coolest listen of the late
summer, and hopefully it will usher in a more exciting autumn than what a lot
of other critics have been anticipating it could be.
There hasn’t been a lot of great talent to
really talk about in the last ten years, but now that Wave 21 is around there’s
reason to get enthusiastic about country music and the artists behind its
current campaign. I’ll be patiently waiting for this band to visit my town in
the near future and give me a chance to see their live show in person; until
then, you can count on this record being in my daily playlist for the
indeterminable future.
BANDMIX: https://www.bandmix.ca/wave-21/
Tyler Shaughnessy
