There are a lot of references to Fleetwood Mac in write-ups about Houston, Texas band Wild Moccasins and their 2018 album, Look Together. But those allusions have nothing to do with the glistening Alt Pop sound of the album, which has far more in common with early New Wave, melodic Post Punk and the dreamy, ethereal approach of 4AD acts like Lush and Cocteau Twins than it does the earthy Classic Rock of Stevie Nicks and Co.
The Mac comparisons are specific to that band’s 1977 album Rumours, a creative (and commercial) triumph that famously arose from the heavy tensions within the group due to the fractured state of the musicians’ romantic relationships with each other.
In the case of Wild Moccasins, the songs on Look Together came about as the group’s creative core — singer Zahira Gutierrez and guitarist Cody Swann — worked to figure out how to continue the band after the dissolution of their romantic relationship, which began a year before they started writing songs together in 2007. After a couple of early releases, Wild Moccasins signed with large indie label New West Records, home to a diverse roster that includes Steve Earle, Ben Folds, Shovels & Rope and All Them Witches. New West released Wild Moccasins’ 89 92 album to critical acclaim in 2014.
The songs on Look Together (the band’s third full-length) are broadly relatable, examining the more universal truths and complexities that come with trying to move forward after being so close to someone on so many levels for so long. Wild Moccasins’ sound has always mixed colorful and provocative tones full of romance and melancholy with alluring melodies, energetic rhythms and dreamy swirls of synths and glimmering guitar, but the personal circumstances under which Look Together was created seem to make everything bigger and more punctuated.
In a recent interview with Phoenix New Times, Gutierrez said she and Swann remain very close and appreciate the specialness of their creative relationship even more in the aftermath of making Look Together.
“When we write music, it clicks,” she said. “We are able to speak this language to each other that maybe other people don’t understand. A lot of it has to do with our history.”
Wild Moccasins play a free show on Friday, Feb. 22 at Over-the-Rhine’s MOTR Pub with locals Sungaze and Hateflirt. Click here for more info.
UPDATE: On Feb. 21, Wild Moccasins’ video for Look Together track “Doe-Eyed Dancer” premiered via NYLON Español.
This article appears in Feb 13-20, 2019.