The Wind and The Wave

In 2014, The Wind and The Wave quietly released one of the best albums of the year. From The Wreckage glowed with a rootsy golden tone that encompassed everything from indie-folk, to alt-country to blues-rock to Southern psychedelia. Its creators, touring musician turned songwriter and producer Dwight Baker and singer-songwriter Patty Lynn, began making music together on a lark, never dreaming anything would come of it. Baker describes it as “kind of like what happens when two friends hold hands and jump in a freezing lake just to see what it feels like.” Thanks to the undeniable chemistry between the pair, the music took on a life of its own and The Wind and The Wave soon found themselves with a major-label record deal, embarking on U.S. headlining tours, having their songs appear in such TV shows as Grey’s Anatomy, and racking up millions of plays on Spotify and Apple Music. The band also earned itself a rabid following, with fans especially enamored of Lynn’s feisty vocals and brutally personal lyrics about challenging relationships with lovers and family members as well as her relationship with herself. “People really treasure that album,” Baker says. “We got tons of letters from people saying it saved their life. They’re people who are conflicted and searching and they connect with Patty’s lyrics more than anything.”

When it came time for The Wind and The Wave to make their second album, Baker says he and Lynn felt “some bit of an obligation to deliver that again.” The band definitely delivered on their sophomore album, Happiness Is Not A Place, and the result is the sound of a band that has stretched itself and grown. Lynn managed to dig a little deeper with her lyrics, exploring her difficult feelings on commitment, and family, while acknowledging her own frantic mind. And the band’s sonic palette is nervier, thanks to the album being recorded live by producer Butch Walker. “To me, it sounds reckless with a rock and roll spirit and attitude, an ‘I don’t give a fuckedness,’ if you will. I wanted it to make sense to our fans, but to feel like a step forward musically. And I think we accomplished that. It’s really rough around the edges, and there’s a lot of urgency and pent-up stuff that probably came from both Patty and my nervousness about making a record with an outside producer.”

After being dropped by one major label, and leaving another, all expectations and second guesses went flying out the window. The band’s third full length album, Human Beings Let You Down, was a record made in hotels and backstage dressing rooms across the US. “Getting married was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made,” says Lynn, “But it also brought out a lot, good and bad, and therapy helped me work through it. That’s what the song Neon Prayer Flags is all about.”

“It’s gotta tough to be Patty, or anyone in her life, because if something’s amiss, she’s going to write about it. And you’re going to know it’s about you, and you’re going to feel weird about it,” Baker says with a chuckle. “Everyone’s in the line of fire. Patty and I are two people who, while we strive to be joyful and positive, can be very much morose and negative, and that definitely comes out in the songs.”

The band recently supported Stereophonics on an arena tour around the UK. They are now in quarantine in the US working on their fourth original album, as well as looking forward to a series of acoustic mini tours.