{"id":10552,"date":"2018-02-13T10:00:38","date_gmt":"2018-02-13T15:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.altwire.net\/?p=10552"},"modified":"2023-12-06T06:39:37","modified_gmt":"2023-12-06T11:39:37","slug":"album-review-wild-child-expectations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/ru\/album-review-wild-child-expectations\/","title":{"rendered":"[Album Review] Wild Child – Expectations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wild Child\u00a0<\/strong>are something of a wonderful find. Since their inception in 2010, the Austin, Texas group has steadily been capturing the hearts of a rapidly expanding audience, their beautiful, crooning indie-pop vocals and enthralling, organic acoustic instrumentation spanning three studio efforts, helmed by lead vocalist\u2019s\u00a0Kelsey Wilson<\/strong>\u00a0\u0438\u00a0Alexander Beggins<\/strong>. It\u2019s to their credit that the group\u2019s gorgeous incandescence has remained so charmingly attractive throughout their still young career, capturing the attention of producer\u00a0Ben Kweller<\/strong>, and signing with\u00a0Dualtone Records\u00a0<\/strong>in April 2015, while gradually expanding their sound with additional pop elements in 2015 release,\u00a0Fools<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u0421\u00a0Wild Child<\/strong>\u2019s fourth effort,\u00a0Expectations<\/em>, the group opens things with familiar territory; introductory track \u2018Alex\u2019 establishes the perky acoustic instrumentals and\u00a0Wilson<\/strong>\/Beggins\u00a0<\/strong>dynamic so appropriate to the group\u2019s style, before easing casually into \u2018Eggshells\u2019 gentle saunter, while \u2018Back & Forth\u2019 kicks things into a more upbeat, jazz-inspired backbone. In terms of actual impact, it\u2019s a satisfactory start to the proceedings, albeit perhaps a little too safe; all three are fine, well produced tracks, but familiar ground is certainly being treaded and it really isn\u2019t until \u2018Think It Over\u2019 hits that\u00a0Expectations<\/em>\u2019 limited personality really starts to emerge.<\/p>\n

Gearing itself towards more contemporary pop influences, while embellished with groovy funk-esque guitar riffage, \u2018Think It Over\u2019 keeps things gracefully moving along, while moodier strings and brass elements are peppered throughout. Lyrically, the track cautiously explores the intimate uncertainty of fresh perspective in the face of a failed relationship, alongside the tentative steps forward, and temptation to step back;<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, damn, I think it\u2019s done.\u00a0<\/em>
\nTake it back, turn around, \u00a0I start all over again.<\/em>
\nHe\u2019ll start to pack up, and she\u2019ll pretend she\u2019s sorry.\u00a0<\/em>
\n\u2018Wait babe, can\u2019t we be friends?\u2019\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Continuing onwards through\u00a0Expectations<\/em>, much of the instrumentation still grounds itself in already established territory, but some far larger ideas and sounds than previous efforts\u00a0\u0434\u0435\u043b\u0430\u0442\u044c\u00a0<\/em>sometimes come into play, such as the slow-burning titular \u2018Expectations\u2019. The track builds gradually from an already confident stride to a final explosive leap forward, huge percussion and distorted\u00a0Kelsey Wilson\u00a0<\/strong>vocals roaring furiously in the final crescendo, accompanied by a subdued, underlying lead guitar section.<\/p>\n

On a more reserved level, the beautifully haunting, acoustic-driven \u2018Sinking Ship\u2019 stands easily as a gorgeous highlight for the record; with\u00a0Wilson<\/strong>\u2019s delicate delivery of\u00a0\u201cfeel like wasting time with you, see the rising tide, know it\u2019s only a matter of time\u201d<\/em>, the track gently\u00a0drifts by until finally entering a section of eerie submerged ambiance, similar to the claustrophobic nature of being underwater. Another fantastic use of atmosphere comes in the form of \u2018My Town\u2019, opening in a warm, dramatic fashion into a massive bassline and electric guitar drenched in reverb, the track steadily builds into a huge chorus, and\u00a0Kelsey Wilson<\/strong>\u2019s retaliatory deliverance of one of\u00a0Expectation<\/em>\u2019s most captivating vocal performances;<\/p>\n

\u201cTake it back, burn it down \u2013 oh you bring your body bag
\nI know you\u2019re right, just hurts my pride \u2013 because I gave you all I had.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, despite some truly spectacular moments,\u00a0Expectations<\/em>\u2019 greatest weakness is one of simple complacency; sure, \u2018The One\u2019 is pretty and \u2018Alex\u2019 is charming enough, and \u2018Follow Me\u2019 is undeniably beautiful in its own right, few moments on the album stand out to meet the same calibre of \u2018Sinking Ship\u2019, \u2018Think It Over\u2019 or \u2018Expectations\u2019. While there isn\u2019t any truly poor material to be found on\u00a0Expectations<\/em>, a sense of the band perhaps being a little too comfortable in their own skin, alongside a slightly overlong running time at 48 minutes, renders\u00a0Wild Child<\/strong>\u2019s fourth effort something perfectly listenable, yet falling short of the mark when it could have been so much more.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wild Child\u00a0are something of a wonderful find. Since their inception in 2010, the Austin, Texas group has steadily been capturing … \u0427\u0438\u0442\u0430\u0442\u044c \u0434\u0430\u043b\u0435\u0435<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":10553,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","transcript_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviews","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-50"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/75"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10552\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}