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Bravely mining the lost essence of British Indie, The Wave Pictures were critically lauded last year for their debut album Instant Coffee Baby. Short listed for The Guardian ‘New Album Award’ and included in Plan B’s ‘Albums of 2008’, their seductively shabby love songs evoking the grubby romance of youth won them fans amongst public and critics alike.
The Wave Pictures are an indie three-piece, instrumentally limited and hardly ambitious rhythmically or melodically, but they evoke the all-time greats - Lou Reed, Tom Verlaine, Jonathan Richman and Bob Dylan. Evoke them. They don't rival them or rip their pedestals from under them. No, in their own very English way they make you think of the simple three-chord US drone-rock of the Velvets, Modern Lovers et al while the frontman's vocals recall the classic tuneless rock whiners who turned non-singing into an art form and his lyrics run the gamut of styles from impressionistic to novelistic.
Their debut album proper was recorded in the basement studio of The Duke Of Uke music shop on Hanbury Road in East London, a venue-cum-meeting place for like minds. Instant Coffee Baby comprises mainly live takes, with overdubs reserved for the odd backing vocal, shiver of violin or burst of brass. It has the ramshackle, spontaneous, "natural" quality beloved of so many indie connoisseurs - and Nick Lowe, who has been singing Tattersall's praises and praising the band's songs about avocados and blowjobs. (Excerpts from Guardian)
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“Lyrically, The Wave Pictures turn on a dime. They can zip from the richly observed into amusingly confessional into a Lewis Carol flight of fancy.” - 8/10 NME
“The Wave Pictures are currently conjuring the most gleeful, magnificent pop in town.” - GUARDIAN
“At their helm The Wave Pictures have a writer who captures expertly the bitter romance of British life.” - ***** TIME OUT
“Original Intelligent, and utterly heartwarming.” - **** THE FLY “
They’re making quintessential, embrace-able indie, and their ‘everything is essential’ streak continues.” – 8/10ROCKSOUND
"the perfect sound for discussing life’s tiny miracles to. “The sun came in like a pack of orange spaniels through the window…” they lilt. - VILLAGE VOICE
"[on the] cusp of a major breakthrough...The Wave Pictures released their debut album "Instant Coffee Baby" to considerable acclaim" - Clash
"Indeed, whereas many of 2008’s indie frontmen peddled a line in obscurantism....Tattersall openly casts himself in the role of wordsmith...it’s this self-awareness that makes Instant Coffee Baby such a rewarding record. You feel like Tattersall is singing with you rather than at you...and at such moments it’s a pleasure to sing along." - DROWNED IN SOUND
"...demand, nay, positively hijack your attentions...attempting to quote any of them here somehow wouldn’t quite capture the atmospheric veracity of the Wave Picture’s tales of chaotic days at showgrounds, lively evening barbecues, parenting skills, awkward encounters...Elvis Costello...is a monosyllabic brute in comparison: Dave Tattersall is quite decidedly making a bid for “top lyricist ever from Yorkshire” where he has a bit of serious competition from such luminaries as Jarvis Cocker and The Wedding Present’s David Gedge." - ADEQUACY
"a three piece London band who create witty, heartfelt and nostalgic pop songs" - DAZED DIGITAL
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