Five years after their last studio album, 2019’s Laughing Matter, Wand has had some lineup changes but returns with an effort in the same vein. Vertigo, released on Drag City, is a collection of layered guitar/synth-based jams that reverberate with questioning allure.
Since their expansive live album release, 2022’s Spiders In The Rain, the Los Angeles-based outfit’s lineup has shifted. They are now a quartet with Evan Backer, Evan Burrows, Robbie Cody, and Cory Hanson all contributing to the sound. Wand recorded in their home studio, crafting songs around jams, cutting and pasting, or letting the music flow naturally.
The opening pairing is the high point on the record as “Hangman” uses an ominous slow build with rising tensions as a reserved monotone vocal tone dances amongst the buzzes and vibrations directly into “Curtain Call,” which keeps the same tone, adding warbling strings, keys, and synths. The record overall has a very Radiohead influence with the slow creeping vibe of the dramatic “JJ” also recalling the Abingdon, Oxfordshire lads.
The band keeps most of the songs tight with tense building but stretches out on three tracks. “Mistletoe” shifts gears with a disco beat, synths, horns, and an ending that feels overwrought and extraneous. Better is the bigger drums and layers of feedback that crash and cascade throughout “Smile,” which reminds listeners of Built to Spill, while the noisy feedback of “High Time” goes over the top with a long, drawn-out ending.
“Lifeboat” retreats back with swirling ominous synths, light horns, and vibrating guitars before the album’s closer, “Seaweed Head,” moves easily into art/experimental land with pulsing sounds and a mix of a soothing/unsettling tone. Wand loves to play with a variety of influences, touching on everything from psych rock to art pop to noise to indie to jam with equal confidence as Vertigo touches these different subgenres but manages to keep an interesting, cohesive tone for the full, dizzying ride.
