Album Review: 0.1 flaws and all by wave to earth

By Malea Nguyen, May 17 2023—

wave to earth released their first album towards the end of April and listening to it has been the best form of self-care that I’ve experienced in a while. 

Based in Seoul, wave to earth is an indie-pop band that produces mostly English music with a unique and distinctive lo-fi sound. The instrumentals are based on jazz drumming with hints of rock. Overall, their music creates a dreamy atmosphere and, to be honest, they are extremely underrated. 

This new release, called 0.1 flaws and all., adapts to an environment that is magical yet passionate. It captures an overall essence of there being “flaws and everything else” in your everyday perceptions. Whether you are going through a breakup, a tough semester or even all of the above, this album provides the ultimate form of comfort to remind you that beauty can coexist with the flaws that encompass our raw experiences. 

The album is split into two discs — an A side that mediates a bright pop sound and a B side that has a dark and moody jazz sound. The contrasting musical styles make for an interesting mix, as it simulates the ups and downs in life.

The artists released a short documentary on YouTube where they talked about their process in creating this album. The main theme was naturalness, or in other words, they wanted the feel to be as organic as possible. They incorporated ambient noise, such as the opening of doors, while also capturing the true rough sound from the instruments in order to emulate that raw feeling from the music. From an engineer’s point of view, the album had flaws. Instead of being heavily arranged and polished, the songs each had their own imperfections, relating back to the album title of there being flaws and all.

This is a no-skip album — all of the songs are beautiful in their own way. My personal favourites include — “peach eyes,” “love.,” “homesick,” “dried flower” and “sunburn.” The documentary dove into a few of the songs and how they were inspired. I especially loved the story behind “homesick” and “sunny days.” While at the studio one day, the artist realized that his potted plants had grown more than expected. He then thought, “even in the moments when I was lost, I kept growing” and so inspired the song “homesick.” The band had also decided to meet up one night at a cafe to relax while in the midst of creating this album. On their way out, one of the members started humming and realized he could make something out of this, producing “sunny days.” To them, “sunny days” then became a symbol of how them being together could lead to inspiration and meaningful moments.  

This album felt healing in the sense that their music shined a light on how beautiful both joy and hardship can be. It’s the sort of album that you would wish for in your happiest times, and the one that you would cry to on your darkest nights. The emotions are conveyed in such a beautiful way that you can’t help but feel nostalgic and immersed. In fact, it’s so immersive that the music tugs on you to take a deep breath and reminisce. The atmosphere feels comforting, almost as though you’re taking in a breath of fresh air before closing your eyes under the warm summer night with no worries in mind. Listening to wave to earth’s 0.1 flaws and all. is something that I wish I could experience for the first time again.