Wild Nothing’s original mastermind, Jack Tatum, explained how the Empty Estate record came about—once he got a break from performing the same songs over and over, “I listened to Brian Eno and David Bowie for weeks on end and felt like I was hearing them for the first time. I took a trip to Miami with my girlfriend. I visited my family. I felt free to try things musically that I would have stifled before.” All very promising, no?

 

You can get your first taste of the results in the official video for the single “A Dancing Shell,” a charmingly low-tech psychedelic journey. The music itself is more hard-edged and muscular than Wild Nothing’s usual output, which is heavy on jangle and haze. Sounds like somebody hit the clubs on his vacation.