Interview Wishy: “These songs are more delicate and intimate”
A year on from the release of their debut ‘Triple Seven’, US quintet Wishy are showing off a different side to their sonic coin with new EP ‘Planet Popstar’.
There’s a warm heat, much like the summer sun, that spreads through the mind as Wishy’s ‘Planet Popstar’ EP coasts through speakers. Through layered vocals, acoustic guitars and laid-back melodies, the quintet construct insouciant shoegaze that moulds together the sound of last year’s debut full-length, the rock-leaning ‘Triple Seven’, and vocalist Nina Pitchkites’ intimate songwriting meticulously. Essentially B-sides from the album, the EP offers a chance for them to showcase a wider sound: “We had a bunch of songs left over that we really liked that didn’t fit on the album,” explains guitarist Kevin Krauter. “So while we’re in the process of writing for the new album, let’s finish these up and put out a little EP.”
This exploration is easily contextualised when reflecting on the sonic paths that Nina and Kevin found themselves on. Immersed in a world of music, with Kevin learning the guitar from his older brother – American post-grunge outfit Creed particularly sticking out in his memory – and Nina finding alternative music through her older sister, the pair’s paths were destined to cross. They grew up in the same town in Indiana – it wasn’t a difficult connection to make.
While Nina and Kevin’s little sisters were in the same grade at school, “it wasn’t until college that Nina and I started hanging out with a larger group of friends that were playing music,” says Kevin. House gigs and mutual friends made the duo’s tracks converge as they both experimented sonically within different groups, finding each other in the crowds of one another’s sets. “Nina started her project Push Pop and some of our mutual friends that I had played with were playing in her project,” adds Kevin.
“I remember getting a text with the simple statement: ‘I want to start a twee-pop band’.”
— Nina Pitchkites
Familiar with one another, they were soon united by the idea of listening to a track and thinking, ‘This is cool, but it should go like this.’ And so, they found themselves face-to-face with a new idea back in 2019 at Kevin’s suggestion: a twee-pop band. “I remember getting a text with the simple statement: ‘I want to start a twee-pop band,’” reflects Nina.
For Kevin, it had to happen - “the way Nina writes songs [being] similar” to the exact sound he’d originally been chasing. The duo soon began piecing together elements of their previous work into what would become two new projects – first Mana, and now Wishy.
“Nina was leading the way on the vibe. She was writing softer, poppier, gentler stuff that still kind of had an upbeat poppy feel,” Kevin describes. “So, the two projects initially felt very different. Eventually, we were like, ‘Well, we want to make something out of both of these’, but making two bands happen at once is kind of difficult.”
Folding “the two into one,” Mana members drummer Conner Host and guitarist Dimitri Moss joined the pair, before completing the lineup with bassist Mitch Collins. Together, they’ve found the balance between the world of Kevin’s power pop-rock and Nina’s breezy indie.
With the album rocking as the guitarist so intended, the band has “other songs that are more delicate and intimate and not in your face,” he acknowledges. And so, ‘Planet Popstar’ explores “a different side sonically”, while still being Wishy. It’s still the two minds whose paths crossed all those years ago searching for the same thing – a place to create, and a place to explore, without limits.
‘Planet Popstar’ is out now via Winspear.
As featured in the April 2025 issue of DIY, out now.
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