One of our favorite new bands

Review Score:

A

April 25th / 2025 –

Wishy has emerged as a surprising favorite for me over the last few months. Their debut album from last year not only made the iconic and coveted Best of 2024 list, but it also did something many albums on that list didn’t do—it stayed in my rotation well into the new year.

I’m a lazy guy. It’s easy for me to skip a concert when an artist or band comes to a nearby city. Sometimes it’s even easy to skip a show I could walk to in under fifteen minutes. But when Wishy rolled up to the basement of a converted church in downtown Buffalo, I didn’t hesitate to get a ticket.

I love small shows. Part of it is that I’m happy to avoid big crowds and long pre-show wait times. But there’s also something special about smaller venues—a quality that often gets lost when a band blows up and starts playing concert halls. Artists today are less likely to be full-time musicians than they were in decades past. So when you see a group of four or five friends playing in a bar, knowing they probably took time off from day jobs to be there, it makes for a really cool experience.

All of this is to say: whether Wishy is playing down the street or several hours away, they’re a band worth paying attention to.

Planet Popstar, the band’s newest six-song EP, is a fine display of the unique sound Wishy has begun to carve out for themselves. It leans slightly nostalgic, with buzzy guitar tones and crisp snares. Sometimes I even hear a bit of (hear me out) Sugar Ray influence—something about the intangible, easygoing quality you hear in tracks like “Fly” or “Over and Over.”

The title track, “Planet Popstar,” shares the same grit that ran through much of their debut, Triple Seven.

Lead vocals are split between Kevin Krauter and Nina Pitchkites. While writing this, I realized I was already familiar with Krauter—two of his songs, “Fantasy Theme” and “Pretty Boy,” were mainstays on a playlist I used to listen to while lying in my uncomfortable, lofted dorm bed, trying to drown out whatever my roommate was doing on the other side of the room. He was also a founding member of the band Hoops, which I’m only vaguely familiar with. Regardless, in pairing with Nina and the rest of Wishy, he’s struck gold. “Chaser” is a non-single highlight on this EP—a welcome surprise on a six-track release, especially considering how short the average EP is getting these days.

Wishy has been around for a few years now, but in my own personal timeline, they’re less than a year old. They’re one of those bands you discover and instantly want to deep-dive into, hoping for a treasure trove—an extensive discography that’s exactly what you’re craving in that moment. Wishy isn’t there yet. But I hope they stick around to build one.

Review Score:

A

Gubb wrote this review. You can’t get mad at Gubb.

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