As the sound of ethereal music flows across the Sutro stage at San Francisco’s Outside Lands festival (OSL), the spacey telephonic words “I’d bleed for you, if you held me close,” blend with the atmosphere, creating a mystical and dreamy setting. The 20-year-old shoegaze artist Natalie Lu, also known as Wisp, took the stage on Aug. 11 where she opened the set with the first track from her latest EP “Pandora.”
Minutes before her performance, Lu observed the growing crowd from the sidelines, preparing herself and the band for an hour-long performance. She then positioned her guitar cases on the center of the stage, unveiling a black Hello Kitty Fender Jaguar accompanied by plushies peeking from her case, which she refers to as her lucky charms.
“It’s kind of like bringing friends along with me,” Lu said. “I keep them in my pedal board case or in my guitar case for so long that I’m like, I can’t play without them.”
Lu has been touring major cities and gracing festival stages all August, starting with Lollapalooza in Chicago, then returning to her hometown of San Francisco to perform at OSL’s Sunset District and venturing overseas to London for the All Points East Festival.
“It’s surreal being able to play in my hometown, let alone a festival,” she said.
Amidst the mist and wind of OSL, Lu, clad in a gray dress and a blue zip-up jacket, sits down with KCPR for an interview just hours after her performance.
She credits the shoegaze genre for influencing and shaping her music, especially expressing gratitude toward bands like Whirr, who played a significant role in the creation of “Pandora.”
The shoegaze scene, with its emotional and immersive sound, draws inspiration from bands such as My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive. The distorted guitar strums and atmospheric ambiance of these bands evoke a multitude of emotions, contributing to the genre’s unique appeal.
“I wanted my first EP to take inspiration from the people that got me into making music in the first place,” Lu said. “I would always listen to their albums on repeat, always using their songs as references.”
“Pandora” brushes upon themes surrounding unrequited love and complex relationship dynamics. Many of the songs express a deep longing for connection, isolation, emotional imbalance and unmet needs. The EP’s third track “Enough For You” conveys deep feelings of rejection within a relationship and the heartache of fading affection.
Her debut single that is featured on the EP, “Your Face,” was made while Lu was still in college and hadn’t considered music as a career quite yet. The song describes being caught in an emotional conflict and monotonous loop, which was written as a form of self reflection.
“I wrote ‘Your Face’ about wanting to be with someone but understanding that even if they feel the same way about you, there are other things that are holding you back from that,” she said.
Lu combined these conflicting emotions and her love for mermaids to create the imagery behind the “Your Face” official music video, introducing the mythical yet terrifying ocean waters where she swims and encounters an unknown creature.
“I love mermaids so much. That was like my very first theme that I wanted to portray in my music,” she said.
“I made a bunch of Pinterest boards of kelp forests, the deep ocean and mermaids. I wanted to incorporate all that into my music because I felt like it really created this scape of drowning and it’s beautiful, but scary at the same time.”
The single has reached over 60 million streams, skyrocketing Lu’s fame upon the release of “Pandora,” affirming that she has reached beyond temporary success and will continue to climb the ladder.
“I’m really grateful that people are listening to my music and wanting to make shoegaze music as well,” Lu said. “I feel like I’m trying my best to introduce other people to shoegaze as a genre. I’ve gotten DMs and people telling me that I got them into shoegaze or I got them into making shoegaze music and I think that’s a really cool thing.”
While Lu nears the end of her performance time, she releases three muted strums from her guitar and as she sends a single vocal hum out, the crowd immediately knows the track they are about to hear.
She leaves the Sutro stage after closing the set with “Your Face.” As attendees begin to leave the area for another act, some wait at the barricade, watching Lu and the rest of her band pack their things.
Lu’s mother then rushes over to the crowd and hands out stickers that state “I just Wisped.” Though seemingly a small moment, her mother’s infectious joy surrounded the area, carrying the pride of a parent watching their child take on San Francisco’s festival of the year.
