Wavepool – ‘Crayola’ EP review: A hazy greeting from France’s next generation
It’s obvious that nostalgia will never die out, but while most people tend to bring back trends from decades far in the past, it would appear that French slacker rock five-piece Wavepool are far happier casting their listeners’ ears back to sounds that were more popular in recent memory than they are delving into the archives on their debut EP, Crayola.
The Skinny: While the Rouen-based group flit around the boundaries of dream pop, shoegaze and slowcore over the course of the six songs on their debut offering, occasionally harking back to the original trailblazers in the field such as Slowdive and Cocteau Twins, the hazy psychedelic production techniques that the band apply are reminiscent of acts who have trodden a similar path from the last 10 years. Citing the likes of Cindy Lee as a major influence, while also evoking elements of Beach Fossils and DIIV, they’re accurately able to strike a balance between the originators and those they would have indulged in listening to in their own upbringing.
However, listing off bands that have had a profound influence on the direction that the band have taken doesn’t necessarily mean they’re coasting along by being derivative, and there is a wealth of original ideas flowing throughout. There’s a youthful verve to the opening track, ‘Blue Moon’, but at the same time, they’re able to emulate that slightly lackadaisical malaise that their forefathers were always able to convey through their own output.
Single ‘Tiny Cowboy’ stumbles its way over a warping guitar line, while the slightly janglier ‘Blurry World’ has more pep in its step, and the way that they’ve managed to counteract the more downcast moments on the record with a handful of more vivacious tracks helps the flow of the record from getting stale. However, the nature of this being a brief EP to provide a taster of what the band are capable of producing down the line means that they’ll need to find a means to keep this balance present on a full-length when they ultimately find themselves in that position.
The Verdict: As a first offering, this serves as a pleasant introduction to a band from mainland Europe who have plenty of potential to spread their wings and develop on future releases, but minor tweaks may need to be made for them to blossom and cement their own identity into their music rather than creating a tapestry – albeit a beautiful one – of their formative influences.
Defining track: ‘Tiny Cowboy’
Release Date: October 24th, 2025 | Producer: Wavepool | Label: Howlin’ Banana Records
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