wilt
Overview
‘wilt’ is an up-and-coming Indie Rock band formed in 2022, consisting of four key members. Led by frontwoman Chelsea Rifkin, the Alt Rock group has emerged as part of the Grunge revival scene. Over the last year, they have built a strong social presence, resulting in growth for their music career. Their social exposure has been seen primarily through Instagram, where they currently have 200k followers. After beginning their career with only five singles released in the first two years, they eventually released a self-titled EP on March 8th 2024. To date, this is their only EP, with no official albums released either. However, there have been two singles released within the last year, and they remain very socially active, indicating more music. Thematically, ‘wilt’ uses their music as a way to navigate trauma. Music can be a tool, and the confrontation of traumatic experiences is put on display throughout their career so far. Being a younger band, their lyrical content is centred around different types of relationships and the mental toll certain dynamics can inflict during young adulthood.
Primary genres
Alternative Rock
Indie Rock
Grunge
Their debut EP
The self titled EP ‘wilt’ is the first time the group have put together a body of work outside of singles.
‘you’re the one to blame’ is the lead single and their most popular track with over 7 million streams. This track is a very honest one, directly addressing the effects of appeasing parental pressure at the expense of your own mental health. This type of issue is one that would likely resonate with the band’s age demographic, hence showing its popularity. Their tracks like this take a very direct approach as opposed to abstract writing. With the chaotic production style and direct lyrics, this song builds into a face-to-face confrontation with their trauma. An impressive vocal delivery ensures that no aspect of the song goes to waste in its quest to come to terms with emotional baggage.
My personal favourite off the project is ‘bite my tongue’. The production on this song is layered and very polished for a band of their size. They also do an impressive job of portraying anxiety through the production itself. The chorus begins with a resonant guitar picking at a steady rhythm, and the line “I’ll learn to bite my tongue in time” uses intonation. This brief sequence conveys a level of anxiety which is often felt during situations where you feel the need to bite your tongue with a romantic partner. Personally, feeling the emotions being put on display through both production and lyrical content draws me into this song heavily. I also believe this is her best vocal performance from all their works. The outro chorus does an amazing job at building from the chorus that came beforehand, rather than a reuse.
Sonically, ‘every now and then’ is a shift, heavily influenced by the Teen Rock era. The instrumental sounds much more hopeful compared to the other highlights. However, the lyrics contrast this. Almost every element of this song is emitting a nostalgic aesthetic, especially the chorus. Delivered in a quick spoken word style, the singer recalls high-school memories, good and bad. The reverbed electric guitar and kick drum are staples of this sound’s origin; all of these things work in tandem to create that nostalgic feeling.
Their singles
Aside from the EP, they have a handful of singles released, too. Vocally impressive as always, the chorus of ‘moved along’ is similar to ‘bite my tongue’ with how it continually evolves throughout the song. I have an appreciation for the minor details, such as the drowned-out backing vocals in the final chorus. Although the lyrics on this song are slightly generic, the beauty of the track lies once again in the production and delivery. The climaxes of this song tick every box that you’d expect. Through these few releases, the group are solidifying choruses as a significant strength in their music.
Similar praise can be said for ‘nothing special’ when it comes to choruses. The group seem to stick to what they’re good at. Not the most experimental, but eager to perfect the craft that their work pertains to. This song leaves a lot of ambient space rather than being jam-packed, and then the chorus comes in to be their most aggressive. The drumming is a highlight for this one, and can be easily overlooked due to the whirlwind of noise in the final chorus. I’m interested to see if the group sticks to this formula moving forward, or if we will get some different angles from them.
A collection of our favourites
