wave to earth has grown a huge following since 2023, when their biggest song, “seasons,” spread across social media. The band received attention worldwide when they released their debut album, 0.1 flaws and all. on April 20th, 2023, four years after their first single came out. Currently, they’re on a tour across North America, visiting cities including Boston, and all 25 shows have sold out. On top of that, they recently released their second album, play with earth! 0.03 on September 6th, 2024; the album reached 10 million streams on Spotify within a week of its release.
wave to earth’s general sound, even on their new album, tends to gravitate towards genres like R&B, lofi, and even some jazz, creating a calm and soothing vibe. For instruments, there’s one guitarist who’s also the vocalist, bassist, and drummer. One might think that only three people in a band wouldn’t do enough for the sound, but in reality, the instruments they play are what make up the foundations of rock and R&B. Together, they’ve made and produced some beautiful masterpieces.
Some of the highlights of play with earth! 0.03 that provide a taste of their sound are songs like “play with earth!” and “beck.”. Listeners will hear the happy, upbeat mood that the band creates. Through the vocals, guitars, and synthesizers, they bring sunshine into a song. The tracklist of the album is quite reminiscent of songs from their other releases; for example, “play with earth!” sounds a lot like “evening glow” because of the synth. “holyland” can be compared to “homesick” because both songs have a slow tempo and the vocals are emotional. “slow dive” almost has the same vibe as “so real” because of the airy, echoey sound. This aspect has to be taken with a grain of salt because not everyone enjoys familiarity and repetition from one album to the next. However, this can be seen as a plus; artists’ sounds can be so different from each other that having a certain sound prompt or music genre to stick to 24/7 might actually make them easily recognizable.
While some people believe that wave to earth has no spectrum or diversity in terms of musicality, fans will say that they have a sound like no other, and that the serenity and joy that gets carried through their music passes on to their listeners. Yes, there are similarities between their songs, but the songs—on this album, and in general—have so many elements that separate them that this album gets a strong 4 out of 5 Falcons. My advice is don’t knock it until you try it; you can’t judge two songs based on their similarity within the first ten seconds, so give the album a listen, and maybe you’ll love it—plus, their music is great for study sessions.
This article also appears in our October 2024 print edition.
