WAVE PICTURES - Gained/Lost

And here we are once again, ready to sing the praises of the tipsiest, most lovable band on the garage-rock scene, this time tackling the most immediate and accessible album of their career. With "Gained/Lost", the Wave Pictures try to capitalize on a formula that has always worked, one beloved by critics but not always kissed by mainstream success.
Candor and heartfelt nostalgia remain the Wymeswold trio's best weapons. The long list of reference points – from jangle pop to glam, from psychedelia to blues – once again keeps the listener's attention locked in, without ever getting tangled up in mere name-checking. Less abrasive and sharp-edged (as on "Sparklers") and unusually sentimental ("Faded Wave Pictures T-Shirt"), the three musicians keep playing on the naïf effect of their instrumental arrangements and on David Tattersall's scruffy, conversational vocal performances, this time prone to plenty of duets with Holly Holden's female voice.

That "Gained/Lost" is the band's most structured album is clear from the very first notes of "Alice", a pop-rock ballad vibrant and just melancholic enough to pack, in under four minutes, a whimsical rock'n'roll spirit, an engaging guitar solo and just the right dose of emotion.
It's a shame that so much magic is followed by an uneven batch of songs, where at times a pleasant genericness prevails ("Sure & Steady"), but also a compositional aridity that goes hand in hand with a beefier sound ("You're My Patient Now"). The band's lo-fi surrealism lends a hand to the charmingly amusing "The House Painted Blue" and finds its perfect foil in the dizzying "Samuel", but it also exposes the limits of their timid shift from cult favorites to a more typically indie-pop outfit ("The Past Comes Back To Haunt Me").
Their music seems to work better in the woozy, tipsy dimension of past records; you have to wait for the exuberant solo of the more anguished "Orange Fire" or the candor and intense emotional undertow of the closing track, "Worry Anymore", to once again savor that sensual creative anarchy that has defined their artistic journey.

The feeling remains that the Wave Pictures are still a healthy alternative to much of today's indie-rock. As lovable and sincere as "Gained/Lost" is, it's unlikely to change the band's fortunes. Self-produced and recorded live in seven days, with a cover that nods to the Rolling Stones' masterpiece "Exile On Main Street", the album never quite finds the right balance between spontaneity and songwriting solidity. Tattersall and co. seem destined to remain perennial outsiders, albeit ones capable of delivering songs of the purest, most honest craftsmanship. However stimulating and ambitious, "Gained/Lost" doesn't add much to the English group's story.

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14/07/2026