Total Wave are a 3-piece group of young ladies who are still in their teens, making some of the best pop music you’ve heard in years. Heat Wave (So TM) is a 6-song EP showing how mature they are in the songwriting department for a group so young, but before this review turns into some big cliche, let’s establish this once again. Total Babe, three young women, love of pop. Boom.
Their style of pop encompasses the best of Bratmobile, The Sundays, Luscious Jackson, Sebadoh, and Built To Spill, and combines it into a sound that’s playful, definitely youthful,and full of spirit, the perfect recipe for a pop band. Some of the tracks, such as “Short Stories” and “Bear Bones”, may make a few fans think back on their favorite Lush songs, as vocalist Clara Salyer has the kind of brightness to her voice that Miki Berenyi made famous for herself.
This style of pop has become a guilty pleasure, and maybe I say “guilty” because I think something bad is going to happen to me if I listen to pop music that makes you smile. It’s a smile happy release, but this is the kind of music you’d like to sing along as you walk to stores, or try to turn your day around because you feel bummed. Courtesy of Lizzie Carolan on violin, she helps add a bit more depth to something that could end up being called lo-fi, but this is a professional sounding recording with the kind of low-end David Crosby-styled alternate tunings that fans of sunshine pop are going to love because it feels good and sounds genuine. I’m drawn in, for I want to hear more from them and see what happens as their music becomes the earworm you never want to extract from the noggin. They sound like people who take their music seriously because they’ve listened in a serious manner.
(Heatwave will be released on October 13th.)
This Is Book's Music 