The Wave Pictures

My intention all week has been to write about three bands that aren't signed who deserve to be. Unfortunately, I couldn't think of a third band to write about and the prospect of trawling through myspace listening to wank was not high on the agenda. So to start I give you The Wave Pictures (and my next post will be on Threatmatics).

The Wave Pictures



Before I start I just want to say whoever took this photo (which I stole off the bands myspace comments) please forgive me, I love the photo. So yeah if you don't want it here please get in touch and it will be gone! But alas it is a good photo so be nice....Anyway, I saw this band support People in Planes about 2 years ago and was very impressed. I remember David Tattersall's voice being incredibly distinctive and his guitar lines being similarly so. For some reason I never really looked into them again until the birth of myspace, but i'm glad i finally did - why these guys aren't signed is beyond me really.

I'm not entirely sure who to compare them to, I suppose they are bit like The White Stripes in the way their recordings sound quite vintage and analogue, the vocals and chord progressions/riffs are strong, and the beats are simple yet catchy. The lyrics are very clever as well - unfotunately i don't have an actual record to talk about other than their myspace songs and the ones available to download from their website, so i'll start with some of them.

I think my favourite has to be 'Airplanes of Brescia' (a Franz Kafka reference for those literary kids out there) which, having read other reviews on The Wave Pictures, definitely has a similar vibe to some of The Modern Lovers tunes. However, it sounds like its been recorded in a bathroom - the reverb on this track is pretty excessive but it gives the track a real charming, lush feel, particularly on Tattersall's picky guitar intro.

Long Island, a piano led gem, is a lovely little ballad esque song with some interesting lyrics: Well i met you on the tube/and you were beautiful in lubricants/with the boy who drank soup/straight from the urn and burnt his tounge. I'd love to have been around to see what influenced these lyrics but it's really the piano that makes this song for me - so simple and repetitive, keeping the song ticking over nicely.

The final song I want to write about reminds me of the dude in There's something about Mary that sings the songs at the end of scenes while chilling on a tree, remember*? Well 'Now you are pregnant' really reminds me of him. Which is a good thing, it's a lovely acoustic ditty with, once again, strong witty lyrics: Jonny Cash died today/ And you'd say, you'd say/It's not like Elvis/ It's nots like Elvis/ Although is it?/ And you would be right.

The Wave Pictures are an absolute gem of a band who write lovely tunes about girls and simple things - they should be signed and they should have a big fuck off cult following of their very own. Check out their myspace at: www.myspace.com/thewavepictures

And give these a listen:

Long Island
The Airplanes at Brescia
Now you are pregnant

*just discovered he's Johnathan Richman from The Modern Lovers - so there you go.