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ACL Live Shot: Wild Child

Zilker Park, Oct. 13

Reviewed by Doug Freeman, Fri., Oct. 19, 2012

ACL Live Shot: Wild Child
Photo by Gary Miller

Wild Child is a band born of raw emotion. The local septet's early shows played out as both coy and playfully tumultuous dramas between fronting duo Kelsey Wilson and Alexander Beggins. Now, a year behind its debut, Pillow Talk, Wild Child has focused its sound while shedding much of the initial preciousness, with that added power and depth carrying well to the festival stage. Greeted by a cadre of hometown fans whose face paint matched their own, the band members showcased new tunes in a set that pushed Wilson's powerhouse talent to the fore, both vocally and on fiddle, while Sadie Wolfe's subtle cello accentuated both sound and sentiment on songs like "The Escape" and slower duet "Silly Things." Though the band can still complicate itself in overly clever contortions (winding "I'll Figure You Out"), its fevered breakdowns on "Cocaine Hurricane" and closer "The Tale of You and Me" upend the poppier turns. With a new album in the works, Wild Child advances beyond the Pillow Talk to real action.

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