Wild Nothing is an American indie rock/dream pop band created by Jack Tatum in late 2009.
Jack Tatum previously played in bands Jack and the Whale, and FACEPAINT in the college town of Blacksburg, VA. He began recording under the name Wild Nothing in the summer of 2009. Emerging at a time when a handful of C86-esque groups were in vogue, Tatum’s demos garnered attention around indie music circles with a cover of Kate Bush’s “Cloudbusting.” Tatum signed with Captured Tracks record label after the success of these demos and began touring with bassist Jeff Haley, guitarist Nathan Goodman, and drummer Max Brooks.
Wild Nothing’s first single, “Summer Holiday,” was released on Captured Tracks in 2009, followed by “Cloudbusting.” The band’s debut full-length, Gemini, was released in the spring of the 2010. Gemini was ranked 49th best album of 2010 by Pitchfork Media and 36th best album of 2010 by Amazon.com Music Editors. Blogcritics wrote, “While I wasn’t totally convinced with Gemini as a whole, I adored it in chunks”.
A follow-up EP entitled Golden Haze was released in October 2010. Reviews of the tour that followed were lackluster. But I Just Like Music wrote “Wild Nothing is fantastic, amazing, great, delicious (maybe) and a beacon of light in the indie scene. According to me, they’re a bunch of shy guys that make some pretty great music, but…for the love of the Pixies and all things holy, make eye contact with your crowd. Wild Nothing is an awesome band. “Our Composition Book” makes my toes tap and head bop, and gets stuck in my head for hours on end. Yet, as you’ll see in the video below, there’s about a 1% difference between listening to Wild Nothing on vinyl and seeing them live.”