Wild Flag put the moves on at their Waterloo free show with Carrie Brownstein and Janet Weiss leading the sound. Their Sleater-Kinney days no doubt forged a bond that hasn’t withered. Weiss’s beats are hefty and energized; and Brownstein’s vocals kicked with fast, unhesitating energy, making the two a forceful duo in the Wild Flag quad.
Add the airy, transitory feeling brought by Mary Timony(Helium) and Rebecca Cole, and a good balance is ready, if not yet integrated. Cole’s keyboard sequences were nicely unexpected, and Timony’s lead on vocals brought a sheered, softer side, lending relevance to ‘flag’ in the descriptive sense. The daylight show held, as Brownstein pointed out, in a parking lot, was no hindrance; Wild Flag wrought their skill and energy impressively. How Brownstein and Weiss’s well-forged rapport will mesh with Wild Flag’s gentler side remains a question. At times the band seemed split between two markedly distinct tempos, and temperatures. The belly of each song pulled the weight, while the ends of them seemed to express the unresolved push and pull of the bands two ‘duos’. Still, the charge in both halves is enough to look forward to their dynamic convergence.
This article appears in March 18 • 2011.