Album Review: 100%WET - '100%WET'
100%WET have crashed into the music business with a genre mixing self-titled debut album.
The new band on the scene have crafted a bold effort that not just mixes, but smashes genres together. It’s an introduction to their own self-coined sound hypergaze.
!00%WET is made up of producers and guitarists Casper Munns and Jakob Birch, having met in their native Copenhagen and bonding over their shared desire to create fresh sounding music, who bring a vast catalogue of experience. Munns is known for playing in art-rock band Himmelrun and releasing two shoegazey solo albums, whilst Birch has a wealthy 15 years of experience as a live performer, first as a touring musician before becoming a formative member in bands Lovespeed and The Lost Weekend. The Danish duo combine their powers here to create a stunning musical palate, combining modern acid house and drum ‘n’ bass with more classic guitar-driven songwriting.
Opener ‘Lost Myself’, their first single, sets the tone of the album and the duo well, with guitars and a strong beat, led by distorted vocals yearning. It’s hazy and hopeful, offering the listener a sample of what's to come, teasing the euphoric chaos that is soon to ensue.
‘Ether’ follows and builds on what the first track laid down. It emits the same desire tinged with pain in front of a backdrop of a foreboding and pensive guitar riff. The energy builds up and culminates in a dancier feel that leads well into ‘Looking In from the Outside’. This, combined with those imploring foggy vocals and emotional lyrics, craft an intangible resolution, that it must be better to dance and head bop through everything that comes at you.
‘Re-Emerging’ places the duo’s shoegaze influences at the forefront and is maybe the best use of the guitar on the record. The riff that plays throughout the song, at first on its own before being joined by a modern drumbeat and effortless vocals wouldn’t feel out of place from a guitarist in an exciting new-wave band way back when or equally on an indie songwriter’s acoustic album. The duo is able to seamlessly connect this with the modern acid house and breakbeat that ends the song culminating in a song and ultimately an experience that feels like a journey through the ages of music.
In ‘Over Me’, breakneck d’n’b takes the stage over 100%WET’s reliable guitar-driven backbone, making use of glitchy textures that accentuate the feeling of the chaotic beauty of the internet age, using it to give shape and a voice to the heartbreak that hangs its head of the whole LP. ‘Lost Myself’ has the same sound and ultimately dissolves into a disorientating, warped outro that morphs memory and emotions.
‘Warmblooded’ closes the album and is an apt way to do so. It’s the longest track and through its runtime it manages to perfectly elongate the impalpable, abstract longing feeling that the whole album has built up and is equally able to successfully cap it off in a way that satisfying whilst still whetting the appetite for me.
The album is as fascinating as it is energetic and invigorating and will make you stop and appreciate its creative nuance just as much as it’ll make you bounce along to its thumping beats. It’s nostalgic of genres and soundscapes of the past, whilst at the same time futuristic through its effortless blending of styles. The lyrics add an extra layer of depth and feeling whilst the vocal features from a wide variety of artists lend a warmth that make It feel endearing. Through its eclectic immersion it would be equally at home through headphones and dancefloors and is an exciting opportunity to link fans of indie, pop and electronic music.
Words by Luca Jarman
