“Wand’s music lets the soul wander before kindly accompanying it back home, and their fifth full-length Laughing Matter is another worthy side-by-side trot. Laughing Matter follows the Los Angeles rock outfit’s sky-high 2017 LP Plum and shapeshifting 2018 EP Perfume. While early releases from these Drag City mainstays were characterized by sludgy neo-garage and fuzzy stoner psych, their latest offe”
“Once fast and abrasive, Wand are softer and more thoughtful on Laughing Matter; the fuzz and distortion are no longer a main feature, but rather tools used to add layers of texture and sound alongside rhythmic guitar and evocative keys.”
“As they pare away at their sound, Wand move further away from psych-rock and closer to true psychedelia.”
“Blindly listen to the opening tracks of Laughing Matter and you’d be forgiven for briefly thinking someone slipped in Radiohead’s A Moon Shaped Pool. That kind of channeling is no bad thing, but even as Cory Hanson cowers over the mic with Thom Yorke intensity on ‘Scarecrow’, and before ‘xoxo’ pulses into wavy, Theremin life, it’s important to note that Wand are a tribute act to no-one. Their firs”
