It was only very recently I’d come across the name Imaad Wasif and admittedly, it was him being somehow connected to the band the Yeah Yeah Yeahs that piqued my interest. However, seeing as I was going to be attending a show where Wasif and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs were billed to play in my home city (Melbourne, Australia), it seemed prudent to do a bit of research.
From my initial online searching, Wasif has only just released a self-titled album in April this year. He has been a member of a few groups prior to this – 'lowercase', 'alaska!' and The New Folk Implosion, and has a decent discography to reflect this, according to the Kill Rock Stars website, which is the label both him and most of those acts are signed to.
Thanks to a few tracks on Wasif’s MySpace page, I was able to get a bit of a feel for his work. There were three tracks: "Into the Static," "Coil" and "Without." Well, that was the case a few days ago. I’ve just been there again as I resume writing this. "Coil" and "Without" are still there but there are two others also: "Out in the Black" and "Tomorrow Is Ours" (though you can also preview "Out in the Black" on Wasif’s Kill Rock Stars profile page). "Into the Static" is not there at present, so perhaps they get rotated periodically.
My first impressions are the songs are melodic and folk-like, and the guitar accompaniment adds to their intimacy. I find them very easy to listen to, and they invite introspection – the sort of music I like listening to in solitude so I can focus on the words and the stories they tell. They also seem pretty short and I’m curious to see how these poignant vignettes will be received in a venue like the Forum, which is large, but could be set up to appear cozier.
The day arrives and though I’m unwell, I’m at the Forum. It’s been set up so that there is padded bench-like seating way at the back, a bar on either side, and the front is just empty, for the standing patrons. While I’d love to be closer to the stage, I’ll stick to the seating, thanks. Five-foot-nothing me doesn’t stand a chance in the mosh pit.
The hall is not even half-full, but a man dressed in a dark, well-cut suit, with some gravity-defying hair walks onto the stage with a guitar. I assume this is Imaad; he doesn’t introduce himself but says hello quietly to the audience and launches into his first song. The crowd is getting noisier as the venue begins to fill. This seems to be reflected in the first song. It sounds shaky and timid.
By stark contrast, he goes straight into the second song which I recognize as "Out in the Black" and wow! Everyone is now quiet and listening attentively. You can hear and almost feel the change in the air. That must sound incredibly wanky, but having a past as a stage fright stricken performer myself, you become attuned to these things. Fear – it’s a character builder. Weirdly, I feel nervous for the performer: singing and playing a guitar in front of a crowd waiting for a kick-arse rock band sounds a tad daunting.
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