Shoegaze revivalists are emerging online with a clamor for the genre, primarily from Gen Z, sparking a surge of genre emulators led by Wisp. Natalie Lu, the mysterious 20-year-old behind Wisp, found unexpected TikTok fame after posting a video singing over an instrumental track by the faceless producer Grayskies, who would later become a close collaborator. Recorded on Lu’s earbuds, her original lyrics, along with that instrumental, later morphed into “Your face,” which blasted Lu into rapid TikTok fame and landed her an Interscope record deal.
Growing up in Ocean Beach, California, Lu explored various styles of music throughout her youth, including playing the violin and classical guitar, and performing in a cover band with an inclination towards Oasis and Black Sabbath. At 14, she picked up the electric and bass guitar. She later spent her time as a computer science major at San Francisco State University, playing around and recording vocals over instrumental tracks, until her ultimate TikTok notoriety. A self-proclaimed Whirr fiend, Lu is a devoted student of the shoegaze genre, earning her the title of the “face of nü gaze”—an ironic nickname, considering nü gaze was a 2000s movement. In reality, Wisp’s sound is a mix of all her influences from Deftones to My Chemical Romance to Nothing, with an emphasis on turning the volume up to 11.
Lu’s debut EP, Pandora, was her first foray into working alongside producers. She stepped outside her bedroom vocal overlays and writing sessions into the studio to hone her shoegaze-inspired sound. A product of her rapid rise to success and an eager record label, Pandora had some standout moments, particularly “Luna”, which showcased Lu’s ability to tinker with other genres but ultimately felt underdeveloped. Now back with a debut LP, If Not Winter, Lu expands upon the interesting pieces of Pandora and creates a surprising first record, packed with her distinctive, beloved heavy distortion, but now featuring some poppier influences and unique genre blending.
Of course, Lu didn’t abandon her adoration of shoegaze entirely on If Not Winter with the opening track “Sword,” “Breathe Onto Me,” and “Black Swan.” After a brief acoustic intro, “Sword” bursts open into blaring guitar, thumping drums, and distorted vocals. It’s the face-melting bliss expected from Wisp and “Breathe Onto Me” continues it with drawn-out, wailing guitars and unrelenting drums as Lu sings what feels almost like a hex: “Your youth is mine / Our tongues intertwine” between sweet lyrics of complete devotion, “The touch I dreamt before / I feel the need for more.” Later in the record, “Black Swan” also brings back that biting, distortion-soaked goodness, with Lu’s magnetic voice at the center, singing “Someone the gods would cry to lose.”
Behind this wall of sound is Lu’s robust lineup of producers—reuniting with Grayskies, Max Epstein of Photographic Memory, Elliott Kozel, and Kraus and adding Aldn, Stint, Gabe Greenland, Zach CapittiFenton, Alden Gardner Robinson, Darcy Baylis, and Julian Emken to the mix. Wisp is often regarded as a solo project, though so much of what makes Wisp’s sonic landscape is these collaborations, but don’t discount Lu’s contributions. All the lyrics are ripped directly from Lu’s daily journal entries, and since her debut EP, she has taken on a bigger role in the instrumentals, experimenting with synth, tunings, and even adding a producer credit to her list of accomplishments.
Though a handful of tracks rely on the same repetitive tension and release that drove the shoegaze revivalists to Wisp in droves, throughout the remainder of the record, Wisp subverts the formulaic nature of her previous works, starting with “After Dark.” Built up to be another soft-opening, into a barrage of noise-type song, “After Dark” opts to remain subdued with a slower melody, punctuated by an acoustic opening riff and unhurried percussion. It’s sluggishly sultry while maintaining the “nü gaze” feeling with a gravelly, distorted guitar undertone. “Guide Light” continues with the unexpected, introducing a wobbly sci-fi synth straight out of a B-movie. While the blazing guitars return, the spooky synth brings a unique sonic texture that then slows down into a seductive, groaning dance as Lu sings “Tell me something / Is your love enough to live for?”
That lyrical drama is a prevailing theme throughout the record. If Not Winter is romantic in a grotesque and sullen manner that is akin to the yearning Lu’s influences favor. With Poe-esque lyrics sprinkled throughout “Holding your heart / My skin rips apart” (“If Not Winter), “I’m worthy / Of nothing / I’ll regret letting both our hearts die” (“After Dark”), “Just me at the end / The ghost of myself / All my love was made to end” (“Guide Light”), and “How do I see myself now? / Shed all of my skin / But I grasp onto / The beauty laid within” (“Black Swan”), Lu manages to craft an air of romantic dread.
“Lativa,” an instrumental interlude with gothic textures of church bells and something piano, marks the halfway point of the record. The track dissolves into a distorted ghostly tone that blends into the title track. Though Wisp’s music has often been described as “medieval fantasy,” drawing on the ancient inspirations in the album’s title from the Ancient Greek lyrical poet Sappho, it has always felt more like an eldritch quality. “If Not Winter” has a haunting chill, opening with a soft synth that is steel-guitar-esque and drums that create a rhythm reminiscent of a death march. “Wont be here anymore / I’ll lay beneath the floor / Cut the light that shines in me / So my darkness is all I see,” Lu serenades with an eerie lilt.
To break out of the shoegaze box she’s been shoved into, Lu brings pop melodies into tracks like “Mesmerized” and “Serepentine” while still punctuating them with hefty guitar distortion and her characteristic ethereal vocals. “Mesmerized” cranks the searing guitar and breakneck drums back up with heavier riffs, invoking the urgent, heavier work on Pandora. The opening of this song feels the most evocative of Slowdive and my bloody valentine, with a ramped-up guitar that burns into you, inciting an achy tension. However, “Mesmerized” veers off into metal territory, featuring weighty riffs and hooky alt-pop melodies. “Serepentine” brings in a 2000s pop punk cadence through the bouncy percussion and a catchy as hell chorus “It’s been a while since I’ve seen you / Let’s spin out and say how we feel / Tell you you’re safe with me always / Your fears I’ll carry them far away / You always knew / I’d wanna be next to you.” Both tracks are welcome deviations from the typical shoegaze adjacent world Lu operates in.
“Save Me Now” is the perfect marriage of all the album’s strongest pieces, featuring dynamic guitar work that shifts from jangly to vicious, accompanied by shifting drum rhythms and the incredibly catchy chorus of dark and addictive love. “I’m paralyzed / With you on my mind / I feel the jail / It comes across my sight / I’m bleeding out / Could you save me now,” she sings before breaking into an echoey humming that feels utterly euphoric. “Save Me Now” has that undeniable shimmering quality that just hypnotizes you to move.
If Not Winter closes out with a final twist, an almost exclusively acoustic track, “All I Need.” A clever choice to highlight just how heavenly Lu’s vocals are. When you are dealing in a genre so laden with noise and distortion, vocal talents can get lost in the mix, but that’s what makes Lu’s sound feel so unique from her predecessors: her whisper-quiet yet potent tone. It’s a sweet closer to tie in the yearning romantics of the record with the simple declaration, “Remembering our days / How I wasn’t afraid… You’re all I need.” With only a little over a year between her debut EP and first album, Lu has shown impressive growth and an appetite for carving out her niche in the alt-rock genre. Who knows where she’ll be in another few years? Until then, we have a delicious piece of heavenly rock played at an astronomical volume to sink our teeth into.
Olivia Abercrombie is Brooklyn-based music and culture writer. When she is not reviewing albums or interviewing artists you can find her ranting on Twitter (@o_abercrombie) about Survivor or making terrible jokes on Letterboxd.
