Playing music with your best friends is fun. Making a living playing music with your best friends is a dream come true. Just ask R&B-inflected, synth-pop trio Wildcat! Wildcat!.
The Los Angeles-based group is drummer Jesse Carmichael, keyboardist Michael Wilson, and bassist Jesse Taylor, three dudes that’ve been best friends since high school. They’d each played separately in other bands, but finally came together for Wildcat! Wildcat! a little over a year-and-a-half ago. And it’s been quite a year-and-a-half for the three friends. They opened up for Alt-J on tour, got some traction at this year’s SXSW, and now they’re co-stars–along with like-minded outfit Passion Pit–of a new tour documentary (directed by Sam Jones, and bankrolled by fourth-meal-purveyors Taco Bell) called “Hello Everywhere.”
Today’s a bit of a big day for Wildcat! Wildcat! as well. They’re releasing their four-song, self-titled debut EP. The band recorded the EP themselves in their home studios, but this ain’t no bedroom project. The sound is crisp. The layers and layers of vocals also give the recordings an expansive feel. The band can hit some high notes, but one of their biggest assets is Wilson and his keys, and they use it to full effect on today’s song of the day “Garden Grays.” In the first half of the song , the vocals float above the repeating keyboard line. The synthy beats hit, but the songs about texture and melody. Then almost halfway through there’s a little breakdown before the song enters full-on, slow-burn, body-moving mode. Before you even realize it’s happened, your head’s already bobbing. It’s a sonic shift that takes the kind of finesse you’d expect from a band of best friends.
