Wishy - Nature’s Pill
2026 • WINSPEAR • INDIE / DREAM POP / BUBBLEGRUNGE
79/100
After three EPs and a debut album–the breakout Triple Seven–within three years, Wishy was not ready to slow their roll. Instead, they launched more headlong into the vast breadth of the human experience. Only now, they had released all of the songs they had written. Their debut was a batch of previously written songs, but Nature’s Pill–out today on Winspear–was written in the past couple of years. Production-wise, they indulged all tendencies, consequences be damned. The result is a blitz of tunes with new features and some bugs.
Founding members Kevin Krauter and Nina Pitchkites met in high school and filled out the rest of the band with guitarist Dimitri Morris, bassist Mitch Collins, and drummer Conner Host. On Nature’s Pill, the Indiana five-piece embellish chaos and confusion with their trademark hooks and riffs. “Covergirl,” for example, brings reverb in to create an echo effect on the chorus, underscoring its fantastical nature. “Sensational” switches things up by starting with an earwormy bassline that is soon punctuated by guitars, before it shifts into a post-punk chant. I swear I hear The Cure in there as well, particularly “Mint Car” or “Never Enough,” when Krauter yelps, “ow!” The song structure here is atypical and unpredictable, uncommon among most power-pop songs, but Wishy is an uncommon band that fits in without blending in.
Life is zany; even the mundane is insane. Wishy flinch not away, but into this, swinging from the apathy of “All The Rage,” where Krauter and Pitchkites sound cheerful about their inability to turn on the TV or complete basic chores “now that you’re gone,” to the gluttony of “Shift.” The first seven songs on Nature’s Pill are a headlong rush. The eighth, “Freak 99,” is either a welcome breath or a speed bump. The guitars are dissonant and the drums are trotting, but the centerpiece is a nonsensical bridge that could be mistaken for an Anthony Kiedis imitation; “Culture smorgasbord defunct your personality” surely means something, though it is unclear what.
Nike’s slogan “Just Do It” is fitting for Nature’s Pill. Take “Blitz,” for example, which is emblematic of the entire album’s fast pace. Krauter’s voice soars when he sings, “Whatever gets you there, whatever bliss is yours, again. Don’t wait! It’s time! Disarm your state of mind! Just live! Don’t try! Introduce yourself!” It’s a thesis statement of sorts for the album as a whole. Instead of trying to make sense of situationships, heartbreak, longing, and crumpling under the pressure of delivering a worthy sophomore album, Wishy opted to caricaturize it all. The based-on-a-true-story adaptations are fuzzy yet glowing vignettes.
As with any swings, there are some misses. Krauter reportedly experimented with drum loops, and the overall sound suffers for it. As frantic as many of the melodious instruments are, the banality of two-dimensional beats pulls a punch that could have taken most of the songs to new heights. The pops on “Mona Lisa” and “Headscratcher” make me wish they had just done that on the rest of the songs.
Perfect choices are not what you come to Wishy for, though. That would be irresistibly buoyant moments that catch you unawares, with which Nature’s Pill is stuffed. Krauter and Pitckites have a knack for reducing each song to something–a line, a melody–that differentiates it memorably. On a broader scale, the same can be said for a song on their now-two-album discography. On Triple Seven, that song is “Love On the Outside,” and on Nature’s Pill, it is “Kiss Kiss Kiss.” While it is not emblematic of Wishy’s sound overall, or even necessarily the catchiest, it is the most interesting song on the album. Pitchkites forlornly absorbs the stare of her empty Tom Collins over autotune, the band pump-fakes you with guitar chords, and the pressure keeps building until the outro finally releases with melodramatic absolutes: “you’re always on my mind” and “it happens all the time.” That denouement feels like watching Haliburton’s shot fall through the net in game one of the 2025 Eastern Conference Finals.
Wishy have optimistically embraced the ride, even willingly driving. They are not worried about who wrote what, a particular method by which to craft a song, or that their listeners get the songs. The process is the point. Wishy want to take the rest of us with them, so hop in and buckle up.
NBA COMP: TYRESE HALIBURTON
Naturally gifted and diligent player who flashes can-you-believe-it moments with youthful charm, exuberance, and a smidge of corniness.