Gig Review: Half Waif, Four Bars, Cardiff
Emily Watson | 27th January 2017
Above ‘Dempsey’s’, an Irish pub in the centre of Cardiff, is a cosy room, lit by fairy lights, which saw the New York dwelling ‘Half Waif’ play an intimate and atmospheric show as part of their first ever European tour.
The night began with young, local support acts: the quietly powerful ‘Little Red’ and the experimental ‘Parks’. Each of these acts possessed a rudimentary aspect eclectically compiled by ‘Half Waif’. With ‘Little Red’ relating to their singer/songwriter quality and ‘Parks’ foreshadowing Half Waif’s playfulness with sound effects.
They opened their set with the slow, chilling ‘Desperado’, which immediately conveyed that their show would be an immersive experience. The band is comprised of frontwoman, Nandi Rose Plunkett on keyboard, bassist Adan Carlo and drummer Zack Levine. Each of these members seems to pour so much of themselves into every song they perform. They were each so engrossed in their individual performance and yet these contesting parts always came together beautifully. It was really quite affecting to witness a performance comprised of a combination of such clear individual passion.
They performed ‘Severed Logic’, a new song from their upcoming EP ‘form/a’, which is due to be released next month. It was a little more chilled out than their older songs and saw Zack Levine focus more on electronic soundscapes than his usual expressive drumming, but it sat well against those older songs.
I would say their song ‘Turn Me Around’ encapsulated their multi-faceted sound well, as listening to it was a really fluctuating journey. Parts of it are haunting and slow, in a way that is emphasized by the echo effect on Nandi’s vocals, but the climax of the song is animated and catchy.
Their music is pretty unusual and doesn’t immediately strike any obvious comparisons. I spoke to Nandi after the show and she said she liked to describe their style as “mood ring pop”, as it’s such a mixture of strong emotions (mood ring) but also musically playful (like a ring pop), which I thought was an amusingly apt description. Listen to them yourself to see what she means! I would especially recommend trying to catch them live on their next tour as seeing them live was an honestly captivating experience. Failing that I would certainly suggest giving them a listen on their website where they offer their music for download on a pay as you feel basis. This is a band I’d definitely like to see being supported so they grow as they deserve to.
