Laughing Gas

Released in early 2020, Laughing Gas serves as a companion piece to Wild Nothing's 2018 full-length Indigo. Recorded during the same sessions at Sunset Sound in Los Angeles, these five tracks represent a more electronic and synth-forward exploration of the themes Jack Tatum touched upon in his fourth studio album. The EP moves away from the guitar-centric 'shoegaze' label often applied to the project, instead leaning into the 'sophisti-pop' sounds of artists like Roxy Music or The Blue Nile. The production is notably crisp and hi-fi, moving away from the lo-fi tape saturation of earlier releases like Gemini. Critics noted the EP's ability to balance Tatum's signature melodicism with a more mature, polished sonic palette. It stands as a testament to the artist's evolution from a bedroom producer to a meticulous studio architect, refining his vision of dream pop into something sleeker and more nocturnal.