Into the Haze: Wisp Live in Cologne
Natalie R. Lu, artistically known as the alternative rock musician Wisp, went from college student to rock star overnight after the song ‘Your Face’ went viral on social media. At 21, she has now released her debut album ‘If Not Winter’ and is touring through Europe.
She stopped at Luxor in Cologne, supported by hyperpop singer aldn. In the foggy darkness, aldn took the stage and the only light at first was his red headlamp attached to his cap. He immediately started with his most popular song ‘icantbelieveiletyougetaway’, setting the mood for the night and getting the crowd to sway as one. With ‘miss me when you’re drunk’, he touched hearts, his screams of pain visceral over the electronic beats. His melancholic style, electropop mixed with a grunge rock-adjacent sound, easily transcends genre and set the stage perfectly for the main act, Wisp.
When Wisp took the stage, it was in slow, measured steps, her face partially hidden behind a curtain of long blond hair. With a dreamlike presence and a soft voice unlike any other, she began her set with the song ‘Pandora’. While there was nothing you would generally call a “performance”, it felt as though Wisp was merely the mouthpiece for her art. This was about the music, togetherness and perhaps even the emotions conveyed. In each song, the sound spoke for Wisp.
With layered guitars and her hazy vocals, she toed the line between delicate and grunge on songs like ‘Mesmerized’ and ‘Breathe into me’. Other songs, like the title track of her recent album ‘If Not Winter’, delved deeper into a dreamlike state — the captivated audience softly swaying and singing along. Asking the crowd to light up the room, she then professed her love for them and wanted to know what “I love you” might mean in German, so she could tell them in their own language. For a moment, there was no fog, no absentmindedness — just a young and thankful woman giggling along with the crowd yelling “Ich liebe dich!” at her. Then it went straight back into that hazy world Wisp was so effortlessly building.
Her style of shoegaze, which she herself calls nu-gaze, mixes old ’90s vibes from artists such as Whirr (as her Instagram username ‘whirrwhoreforlife’ proves) with inspiration from metal bands such as Deftones.
On ‘Black Swan’, this perceived dichotomy shines, ending the performance before the encore on a high note. The crowd immediately asked for more — and more they got. With her stunning rendition of Coldplay’s ‘Yellow’, she moved every last person in the house; even the people manning the bar stopped their work to sing along. Following that performance, she bid the crowd goodnight with ‘Your Face’, the song that started it all.
If you dare to dream for one night, I recommend experiencing Wisp live in concert yourself.
