WAND – “Goldfish” [Video]

Picking up the pieces of the picked-up pieces, Wand ride on, baby. It’s only three months since they dropped the incredible mass of Vertigo upon the world… but WHAT? Here’s more! One: a new 12” EP plating the pre-release single “Help Desk” alongside “Goldfish”, a bonus dose of oceanic luminescence from Vertigo — plus three remixes from Beat Detectives, Dean Spunt and Dead Rider for good measure. Two: an LP release of the archival In a Capsule Underground, containing demos and unreleased songs from Wand’s salad days in the time of the immortal Ganglion Reef (now ten years wiser). Spin both October 25… we’re a bit dizzy ourselves!

Today’s new single “Goldfish” arrives with an animated music video composed of recently-scanned artwork from the late Bruce Bickford, whose line and clay animations were the center of several Frank Zappa films. “Help Desk” and “Goldfish” are brethren of the eight epochal vibrations that make up Vertigo — boiled down from a tremendous volume of jams, then squeezed through the pin-prick called automatic writing. The remixes delve back into the material, integrating another set of concentric thought-spirals into the radiant action through the unique perspectives of Beat Detectives, Dead Rider and Dean Spunt. This EP’s like a handshake promise that’s fulfilled after the action has gone down — the thanks you get for staying open and hanging in there. The present you get for being present!

Then, In a Capsule Underground… here contains the earliest Wand recordings that we know of, preceding everything that’s come so far. It’s not simply a function of time and nostalgia at this late moment that they sound invariably like magical recordings by, and for, children, is it? The light, fizzy versions of these Ganglion Reef songs have distinctive gleaming magic energies all their own; “The Leap”, an unrealized demo from those days, re-routes a helium-cooled post punk/new wave arrangement into a break of psychedelia borne aloft on sheets of faded shoegaze. Quite the breathtaking thrill ride!

Wand have wandered purposefully onward, but the vibes left here for you to encounter all on your lonesome are among THE MOST: Help Desk / Goldfish and In a Capsule Underground both exist eternally come October 25, 2024. Wand tours the West Coast this September, with a European tour commencing in October. All dates are listed below.

WAND
Drag City: https://www.dragcity.com/artists/wand
Bandcamp: https://wand.bandcamp.com/
Pre-order / Pre-save Help Desk / Goldfish: http://wand.lnk.to/helpdeskgoldfish
Pre-order / Pre-save In a Capsule Underground: http://wand.lnk.to/capsuleunderground

Wand 2024 North American Tour Dates:
Sept. 14 – San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel
Sept. 15 – Redding, CA @ The Dip
Sept. 18 – Seattle, WA @ Madame Lou’s
Sept. 19 – Vancouver, BC @ The Pearl
Sept. 20 – Portland, OR @ Aladdin Theater
Sept. 21 – Arcata, CA @ The Miniplex
Sept. 23 – Sacramento, CA @ The Starlet Room
Dec. 19 – Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room

Wand 2024 European Tour Dates:
Oct. 29 – London, UK @ MOTH Club
Oct. 30 – Manchester, UK @ Yes (The Pink Room)
Oct. 31 – Dublin, Ireland @ The Workman’s Club (The Cellar)
Nov. 1 – Belfast, UK @ Ulster Sports Club
Nov. 2 – Glasgow, UK @ Nice N Sleazy
Nov. 3 – Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club
Nov. 4 – Bristol, UK @ Strange Brew
Nov. 6 – Rezé, Nantes, France @ Cold Crash
Nov. 7 – Paris, France @ Point Ephémère
Nov. 8 – Bordeaux, France @ IBOAT
Nov. 9 – Lille, France @ L’Aéronef
Nov. 11 – Brussels, Belgium @ Le Botanique @ Witloof Bar
Nov. 12 – Zurich, Switzerland @ Bogen F
Nov. 13 – Regensburg, Germany @ Transit Filmfest @ Ostentor Kino
Nov. 14 – Prague, Czech Republic @ Café V lese
Nov. 15 – Leipzig, Germany @ TransCentury Update @ UT Connewitz
Nov. 16 – Hamburg, Germany @ Molotow (Skybar)
Nov. 18 – Johanneshov, Stockholm, Sweden @ Hus 7
Nov. 19 – Malmo, Sweden @ Plan B (Garage)
Nov. 20 – Berlin, Germany @ Neue Zukunft
Nov. 21 – Bochum, Germany @ Die Trompete
Nov. 22 – Rotterdam, Netherlands @ Rotown
Nov. 23 – Utrecht, Netherlands @ Ekko
June 4, 2025 – London, UK @ Scala