The critically-acclaimed British trio The Wave Pictures are greatly underexposed in the states, but with the U.S. double album release of their first two albums If You Leave It Alone and Instant Coffee Baby, this is changing. The Wave Pictures incorporate the innocence of Jonathan Richman, while the music has the DIY vibe of early Smiths or more recently, Jens Lekman. If You Leave It Alone is full of beautiful songs with interesting and playful lyrics – the music is stripped down to the bare essentials of drums, bass and ace guitar solos – while Instant Coffee Baby is also stripped down, but a bit more of a punchy listen. If you’re not familiar with The Wave Pictures, this as good an introduction as you can get. – Written by JFelton
SIMILAR | The Divine Comedy, Ezra Furman & The Harpoons, Jens Lekman, Let’s Wrestle, The Modern Lovers, The Mountain Goats, Slow Club, The Smiths