“Playing guitar is inherently a very cool thing to do” Wisp on leading the shoegaze revival with a sprinkling of nu metal thrown in
San Francisco phenom Wisp (Natalie Lu) has mastered an unexpected musical hybrid: shoegaze meets nu-metal. Think rage, fury and catharsis meeting dreamy, luscious layers of fuzz, echo and woozy synths. If that tagline doesn’t land her on your must-listen, then perhaps Deftones’ advocacy will. The band chose Wisp to open their tour, and they’re not the only ones. Korn, System of a Down, and Avenged Sevenfold have all booked her for support. Lu will hit the touring route with all new material.
READ MORE: Billianne on viral success, battling imposter syndrome and her years-in-the-making debut album
Back in August, Lu released her debut album If Not Winter. Only two years’ earlier, the viral popularity of her single Your Face attracted Interscope Records (the Universal-owned label has an eclectic mix of artists, also boasting BLACKPINK, 2hollis, Jennie Kim, Rema and Kendrick Lamar). Your Face was a hypnotic beast, showcasing Wisp’s breathy, ethereal vocals with the expertise of post-punk producer grayskies (aka Vinicius Masashi Honda Takada). Far from a love song, Your Face is the ultimate “it’s not you, it’s me” track, as Lu laments that she just can’t reciprocate the sort of desire and commitment promised by a lover. But, it’s more than that. The song, in its immense torrent of sound and emotion, captures that sense of emptiness and impotence that is almost universal in our geopolitical fuckstorm of disaster. As much as we want to feel compelled, vulnerable, in love with this world, there’s a void between what we want to feel and what we actually do.
Lu has built her own world, perhaps as a safer space to live out her feelings. Perhaps, as might befit a former computer science student, it’s a fantasy of swords, serpents, swans and mythical objects. It’s evidently chiming with a ready intergenerational audience too, with Coachella and Bonnaroo adding her to their lineups.
Image: Elinor Kry
Moving Out And Moving On
When Lu appears on video call from her home in Los Angeles, she’s in the midst of packing, which she assures Guitar.com is fun. She’s lived in the City of Angels since January 2024, the first time she’s lived alone.
Now that If Not Winter is out in the world, Lu says, “It’s a really surreal feeling, and I think that it’s definitely difficult to grasp all of the emotions that come with releasing a project that means so much to me. The night it came out, I was just very overwhelmed, but so filled with gratitude and love. And, I felt very accomplished because I’ve been working on this album for almost two years now, and I put so much of myself into it. So finally having it out, and for it to be not just my album, but everyone else’s, it just feels amazing.”
For an album so lush and layered, it might surprise listeners to learn that most of the sound is live instrumentation. Lu played guitar alongside her studio and live guitarist Max Epstein.
“I would say 85 percent of the album is live instruments, and the rest, 15 percent, are just synths that we put in MIDI and digitally. But all of the guitars, the drums, bass, all of that is live, real instruments,” says Lu.
Learning to shred was a natural progression from violin, she explains.
“I grew up playing violin, and I think that a lot of the music theory from violin helped transition me into playing guitar. So, I started playing guitar when I was around 15 years old. I kind of played piano too, but I’m not the best at it, so I don’t really like to say that I actually played piano. I picked up bass when I was around 16 or 17 years old. I guess bass and guitar kind of go hand-in-hand in some aspects. But on the album, I mainly just played guitar.”
Image: Elinor Kry
A Rotating Cast
As befits an artist who is so comfortable criss-crossing the genre lines, her gear was equally diverse.
“On the album, there was a mix of different guitars just because I was at different studios all of the time, but I used a Strat on some of the songs,” she reveals. “I used a Les Paul Goldtop on some songs, and during my live sets, I love using Jags and my Harmony guitar. So those will make it onto the album, sometimes as well.”
Lu can’t recall which year the Goldtop was, but it was definitely vintage and definitely, she states, worth over $10,000. Owning one is a future dream for now, but Lu can trace her passion back to being a teenager with no such lofty ambitions.
“When I first started getting into guitar, I was really into bedroom pop at the time, and I was also into old rock music a lot too. So just watching YouTube videos of people in bands playing guitar. I was just so astonished and inspired, and also playing guitar is, at least to me, inherently a very cool thing to do. So obviously, growing up, I wanted to be a rock star, but I looked up to people like Elliot Smith, and I was also very into Oasis, Black Sabbath and Jimi Hendrix. Seeing these people shred and just be so good at their craft, it really inspired me to get into playing guitar.”
Lu played a Fender Vintera II 70s Jaguar on her first headline tour, but she’s moved on to what is her new favourite.
“I recently bought a new Jag” she enthuses. “The Johnny Marr Jag is the best guitar that I own, I love it so much. It feels amazing. I love that it’s short-scale. I was looking for an all-white guitar too, so it’s perfect. It has an interesting layout because the different pickup settings are so vastly different from each other. So, when I play it, I’m able to get a brighter tone. I’m able to get a more smooth, warm tone. And I like that the kill switches aren’t a traditional kill switch, and it doesn’t actually act as a kill switch, but it enhances the brightness on some of the pickups. The knobs are really sick too. I love the color of the neck, and it looks so nice along with the fact it plays so well and just feels great. It’s a very well-made guitar.”
Image: Elinor Kry
Words And Picture
Lu’s taste in oddball guitars stretches to a non-standard attitude to lyrics too. Her songwriting process is all about an organic, unforced approach.
“I usually start with guitar, and [writing the] lyrics depends. I might think of them on the way to the studio and write them into my phone, but at other times I’ll write them after the guitar and bass are tracked and I’m feeling out the landscape of a song. As long as lyrics come to me naturally and I’m not taking more than 30 minutes to write them. The less time I have with them, the more raw and honest they sound.”
Lu points to Guide light as one of those raw moments. It’s a plea for a friend, or a lover, to reassure that they’ll still be there, even when we’re burnt out and the worst in us is on show.
“Who will guide me
when I can’t do this anymore?
(When I can’t do this, will you?)
Tell me something
is your love enough to live for?”
Lu says, “Guide light was the only song on the album that was recorded as a live band all playing together. and there are so many little fun elements added post-recording. You can really see my taste, and [producer] grayskies’. I was playing theremin, which is that really haunting sound you hear, and we also overlaid more guitar. That’s when I fell in love with the Les Paul Goldtop vintage, in that session.”
Just when Lu had locked in on her tracklist and was ready to hand in the final album, her team convinced her that one more song could round it out. Black Swan resulted.
“I thought the album was done,” Lu confesses. “My team and the people around me encouraged ‘one more song’. I said ‘absolutely not, I’m burnt out, I’m done’. Then I went into studio with [producer] Kraus, and we wrote this song I was unsure of in the beginning but after a couple of days, it was turning out really well. I sent it to Max, my guitarist, and he was like, ‘This is so good! This is the best Wisp song ever.’
The last minute addition, she says, “was exactly what the album needed. And I love working with Kraus. I think he’s one of the most talented people and producers that I know, so getting to have him on this project is very special. He produced Pandora, as well.”
Tone Deaf
Wisp is a magnet for the big names in talent – both in production and on tour. The upcoming tour with Deftones is looming.
Lu says, “Deftones have been a really big inspiration in my music. The little breath sound I do in Your Face is inspired by Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away) because Chino [Moreno] does that in a couple of his songs. So, this is such an amazing opportunity, a full circle moment, to tour with people I look up to. Obviously, it’s such a big deal to me.”
It’s also an opportunity to get past her shyness and speak to the Deftones frontman.
“I saw Chino at a festival we played a few weeks ago, but the band and I were too quiet to say hi to him even sitting at the same table.”
Lu recognises that as amazing as this opportunity is, it doesn’t come without some haters. Her role representing women singer-songwriters in shoegaze, and alt-rock in general, is one she really cares about.
“Going into music and making shoegaze, which is dominated by predominantly white men since the 90s, I’m putting myself out there and understanding that I will get some hate and backlash,” she says.
“Being a woman in this field in general is a daunting thing, but it’s necessary. When people like me, and other shoegaze and alt-rock bands, that’s important representation. Other girls have reached out to me and said it’s inspired them to get out there and make music on their own too, and I really attach myself to that. Growing up, I would have wanted to see more female-fronted rock and alt-rock bands. Sometimes people feel threatened and attribute success to how a woman looks. It’s a lot easier to be acknowledged for hard work and efforts when you’re a man in this industry.”
But Lu doesn’t back down. She’s developing a thick skin, an industry must-have.
“I’ve been getting a lot better at just blocking out all of the hate and reminding myself that people see me as out of the norm, and while some see that in a negative light, other people see it in a positive light, and are able to become inspired because there are so many other girls similar to me that that want to make music. It’s just a very special thing to be able to put myself out there and see how that affects other people.”
If Not Winter is out now on Interscope.
The post “Playing guitar is inherently a very cool thing to do” Wisp on leading the shoegaze revival with a sprinkling of nu metal thrown in appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Source: www.guitar-bass.net
