Wisp: KCRW Live From HQ (Full Performance)

LA-based, San Francisco native multi-instrumentalist Natalie Liu — better known as Wisp — stopped by the KCRW Annenberg Performance Studio, bringing the voice of a restless, romantic generation.

While studying computer science at San Francisco State, she felt a pull toward something else. With a mind for experimentation, she added vocals to a moody instrumental and uploaded it on a lark. The response was immediate and overwhelming. One hundred thousand views overnight became a million in less than a week on TikTok, and a follow-up single would climb to No. 10 on the Billboard Hot Hard Rock Songs chart.

This year, the shoegaze musician released her full-length debut, If Not Winter. Searching and otherworldly, its textured guitars and spectral vocals convey an emotional immediacy that lingers long after the melodies dissipate. Borrowing its title from a fragment by the ancient Greek lyric poet Sappho, If Not Winter finds Wisp contemplating a step into the unknown.

Black Swan: 0:00-4:33
Save Me Now: 4:05-8:08
Breathe Onto Me: 8:40-12:08
Guide Light: 12:10-16:31
If Not Winter: 16:32-21:21

Band
Principal: Natalie Lu (Wisp)
Drums: Zach Capitti-Fenton
Bass: Ryder McLaughlin
Guitar: Max Epstein

Staff
VP of Music Content: Alejandro Cohen
Executive Producer: Ariana Morgenstern
Lead Recording Engineer: Katie Gilchrest
A2 / FOH Engineer: Kai Usami
A2 / FOH Engineer: Nick Lampone
Lighting Designer: Jack Arthur
Director/DP/Editor/Stills: Kylie Hazzard
Camera Operators: Laura Odermatt, Michelle Alanis
Senior Producers: Liv Surnow, Adelaide Sandstrom
Social Media Manager: Tohar Zamir
Director/DP/Editor/Stills: Kylie Hazzard
Camera Operators: Michelle Alanis, Laura Odermatt
Lighting Designer: Jack Arthur

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