Silent Wave: One to Watch

Silent Wave
Jazzhuset, Gothenburg
25 October 2013

Silent Wave, formerly known as Waveshaper, gave their second gig ever at Jazzhuset, Gothenburg. Let me introduce them to you, because I don’t remember them doing that at the show: Silent Wave is the electropop duo of Tildeh Hjelm and Hans Olsson Brookes. If you’re a fan of great music from Gothenburg, there’s no way you could’ve missed Hans and his work (including Wonderland artists, Universal Poplab). Being the co-owner of Svenska Grammafonstudion, he’s involved in everything, believe me. If you’re well-grounded, you also understand that he knows exactly what he’s doing and he simply does it well.

Tildeh has been making her own music for years, and with their different backgrounds they make a pretty good team – especially since they met and got to know each other at the Pustervik venue only a year ago. I was there, too, going to one of Timo Räisänen’s concerts (the connection for Hans is that he plays the keyboards in Timo’s band and has produced him). Oh, what a night.

That was a night of way too many beers, but it was also noteworthy for bringing about Silent Wave. About four months ago, they released their first video, called Landscapes. The song DreamOn DreamOn has been released on SoundCloud, but the band doesn’t offer much more by way of recordings right now. The sound is quite experimental; featuring some heavy electronic beats, as well. According to the two members, they are influenced by Depeche Mode, The Cure, The Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead and My Bloody Valentine. According to me, Tildeh is getting her influences from Björk, as well. What a voice and what a nice way of singing!

Silent Wave hit the stage just after midnight. They have a really powerful intro, played instrumentally. Being as new as they are as a band, the gig was only about 25 minutes long. They even played Landscapes twice; using it as an encore number, as well. I can’t decide if it’s a fudge or cool. A little bit a both, maybe. Silent Wave is a good live act. I’m not getting the “OMG, this is the best thing I’ve ever seen” feeling that I get from catching Depeche Mode or Chvrches live; but, having been to over 100 concerts this year, I can assure you that they are well worth keeping an eye on.