I have seen the future of rock, and it is Natalie Lu.
She’s 21 and left college to play in big rooms with a shoegaze sound topped with her pop voice.
She filled the 9:30 in D.C. on August 22 and the crowd swooned and gushed over her.
Shoegaze music is not about anything besides the feelings we all share, and being with people just like you. It says I’m alone, you’re alone, we’re together, you remind me of nature, things like that.
Putting a female pop voice on top of shoegaze is brilliant and steers the genre away from testosterone. With the right mix -- and by that I mean the singer cannot be straining to be heard over the band, you have a hard rock product for both genders that does not submit to bubbleglaze, muscle rock or bubblegrunge.
The show featured a lot of songs from the just-released album “If Not Winter.” Wisp grows on you.
She first got my attention with the 2023 single, “Once Then We’ll Be Free.” Then she fell off my radar. This song is in an uptempo style she adopted a few times during which she does not play guitar in the live show. Those were my favorites, since shoegaze can lack a little melodic variety.
The mix was righteous, the band was tight and the volume rattled my sternum.
Fans showed a lot of PDA. Most of the crowd was in their early 20s, all races, Gay and straight, a few parents chaperoning, goths, bros, pierced and dressed up, and some that just got off of work.
Dream, Ivory opened for her. They stole from a variety of new wave, both and anthem rock approaches. Their songs were short. They were hidden by the fog from the fog machine.
Shoegaze might the tastiest dish at the hard rock diner right now, so check out the scene if you haven’t heard any yet. If you see either act, bring ear protection.
