The Ninth Wave – Infancy Part 1

The Ninth Wave aren’t here to do things the easy way. The group have a history, albeit brief, of defying conventions and throwing together a mixture of sonic textures in emphatic fashion. As they prepare to release their debut record, again rules are being broken, dropping the album in two parts, with the first kicking things off this spring.

The selection of six songs cover a diverse range of sounds, never settling long enough to fall into one set genre. Goth-pop (This Broken Design) transitions to invigorated post-punk (Half Pure), sliding into tumultuous indie (All the Things We Do), into a devilish dose of 80s nostalgia (A Wave Goodbye To the People Who Said I’d Win). Avoiding staticity, each track fluidly melts a sundry of stylistic influences, culminating a half-record full of true artistic intent.

Lyrically, Infancy Part 1 offers a plaintive reflection of modern day life and lost love. From the unsuccessful quest for 'the pain and the glamour that you were bred for' on Half Pure, the cries of 'isn’t that what everyone is afraid of? So incapable of being alone' on Used To Be Yours, to All the Things We Do’s 'modern disease' and an infatuation and need to 'keep up appearances' on A Wave Goodbye To the People Who Said I’d Win. As lyricists, Haydn Park-Patterson and Millie Kidd continue to be both poignant and acutely accurate in their depictions, while as vocalists, they’re an equally powerful duo with a unique delivery.

On Infancy Part 1, The Ninth Wave transition from potential up-and-comers to a band that’s finally arriving. The only frustrating concept of this record is the intermission between the two parts, yet even that's a ballsy move that deserves applause, and, on this showing, Part 2 should be well worth the wait come November.

Listen to: Used To Be Yours, Half Pure 

Scroll on to read The Ninth Wave's guide to some of the bands and artists who've influenced their sound