Naarm/Melbourne-based artist Wilding has just released a new track titled ‘I Am’; a clever, playful, and introspective list of bittersweet affirmations, and the lead single from his upcoming album Whatever I Am, due out May 3rd.
“‘I Am’ is a song about identity. I sing a sardonic laundry list of words that asks us who we are and how we see ourselves. And whether this even matters. I decided instead it’s better to not ponder this idea for too long.” WILDING
While the single’s lyrical content dances between the whimsical (“I am broken / I am fixed / I am KitKat / I am Twix”), the reflective (“I am misguided / I am woke”), and even the downright gloomy (“I am older / I am grey / I am dying / I am decay”), its sonic qualities maintain a total sense of joyous movement throughout. An absolute earworm of a track, ‘I Am’ is a wonderfully catchy Britpop style tune, underlaid by a ripper of a funk-rock bassline, and delivered with a side of gorgeously bright and bouncing guitar melodies. Contrasting so sharply between the darker sentiments of the song and the groovy, almost cartoonishly vibrant nature of its soundscape, the result is something so memorable and exciting, characteristic of the classics of its genre. The single is reminiscent of iconic Britpop acts like Blur, while incorporating the classic-pop sensibilities of those like The Beatles, and the grit and energy of newer acts like fellow Melbournians Gut Health.
“I like the juxtaposition of slightly melancholic lyrics with an upbeat energetic sound. The mix of happy and sad. ‘I Am’ does this. While the lyrics are darkly contemplative, the music is banging! In a Britpop-indie-disco type of way.” WILDING
‘I Am’ was recorded by Fabian Hunter (Jade Imagine, Zoe Fox, Baby Blue) at his Fishbones Tone Shack studio in Northcote, alongside Robin Waters (Eves Karydas, Dan Sultan, Ella Hooper) and Wilding frontman Justin Wilding Stokes. Mixed, then, by ARIA Award-winning producer Wayne Connolly (The Teskey Brothers, You Am I, Babe Rainbow) and mastered by John Lee (The Murlocs, The Stroppies).

I Am

Missing Her is a new song from Melbourne artist Wilding. A toe-tapping pop gem with a harmonious dollop of giddy vocals, a punchy horn section and a swinging rhythm.

Missing Her (hope & maybe remix)

Missing Her

Wilding - Stuck In The Middle (Cian Ciaran Remix)

Wilding - Stuck In The Middle

Maybe ‘Everybody Is The Same’ is about the wide-eyed fuggy realisation of gap-year backpackers that, despite our differences, everybody is indeed the same. Simple, beautiful, profound. But mostly trite. And it's not about that anyway.

Photograph: www.elisabryant.com 

Everybody Is The Same

Speed King of the Commonwealth

Coronavirus. Bushfires. Extinction. Ever think the world’s about to end?
'The World Will End Today’ is the new track from Melbourne odd-pop songwriter Wilding on Sydney label, Half A Cow Records. It’s a darkly infectious a-pop-calyptic singalong for our deeply troubling times. Faced with catastrophic events, perhaps the only way to preserve humanity is to colonise the stars. If not literally, then in our imagination.
It's one of a series of songs Wilding wrote about people who live in his neighbourhood of Coburg, Victoria. His concept album, The Death of Foley's Mall is due later in the year.
In the music video, Wilding slowly morphs into another being. Is it the virus? Grab your toilet rolls and settle in.

The Death of Foley's Mall

The World Will End Today

Wilding is a classic-pop songwriter from Melbourne with a distinctly British flavour.

Originally from Liverpool, he moved to Australia to live with his grandmother, yet it’s clear that his hometown left an indelible mark on his music – a carousel ride of infectious and melancholic beat-pop. Influences which flow naturally from Wilding ’s early years in Liverpool and the music that was around him.

Wilding’s first two albums, ‘Bird’s Bread (2012)’ and ‘Molecules to Moons (2016)’ received an overwhelmingly positive critical response:

•	‘The musical love child of the modern-day hipster and The Beatles’ – Tone Deaf 8/10 
•	‘... full of nuance between delight and melancholy’ – The Age 4/5 stars 
•	‘It’s a glorious collection of sometimes odd, and mostly endearing, harmonies, found instruments, sweeping melodies’ – The Weekend Australian 4/5 stars 
•	‘... seemingly beamed in from The Beach Boys’ Smile sessions’ – Rave Magazine 4/5 stars

In 2014, Wilding collaborated with Cian Ciarán from Super Furry Animals as 'Ciarán and Wilding' for a UK release on the band’s own label Strangetown Records. Their song ‘Missing Her’ was named as one of BBC Radio Wales’ tracks of 2014. In 2016, Wilding supported Gruff Rhys on his Australian tour.

His latest single, Swipe Right, leads you through the truly dispiriting pursuit of finding human connection through online dating. Swipe Right holds an infectious groove of spiky, syncopated guitars and bouncing synths. A defiant declaration that life begins on the other side of despair.

In the video, filmed at home during Melbourne’s second wave COVID-19 lockdown, Wilding meets a philosophical stick insect via a dating app and together they ponder the nature of existence.

Swipe Right is one of a series of character-study songs Wilding wrote about people who live in his neighbourhood of Coburg, Victoria. 

His concept album, The Death of Foley's Mall is out on Friday 2 October on Half A Cow Records/Valley Arm.