Indie Music Album Reviews

Wetsuit - Yarn for Future Scarves

9/12/2025

Wetsuit

Yarn for Future Scarves
self-released; 2025

TOP ALBUM

By Jamie Funk

Wetsuit’s Yarn for Future Scarves landed in my headphones like a time capsule cracked open. Listening to it, I felt like I was back in the late 90s and early 2000s, when indie rock felt both vital and unpredictable. There are clear traces of Hum, Weezer, and Guided by Voices, but the band does not simply rehash old tricks. They tap into that era’s energy and reframe it in their own way, making something that feels familiar but never stuck in the past.

The opener, “Cider,” sets the tone with grooves that feel steady and assured. The hook leans into the soft to loud dynamic that defined so much of the alternative scene, and it hits hard without feeling forced. “Midwest Dream” goes fuzzier, flirting with the kind of detuned swirl that My Bloody Valentine perfected, and it left a haze in my ears that I wanted to sit inside. Then comes “Sweet Sixteen,” which has an addictive bass line carrying it forward while the vocals bring a pop edge. I kept thinking of Mitski here, not in mimicry but in spirit, the way the melodies stay sharp even when the instrumentation gets heavy. It is one of those tracks that reveals more with each listen, and it stuck with me long after the album ended.

“Amy” walks the tightrope between shoegaze and alt rock with confidence, while “Can't Hold Water” might be one of the strongest songs on the record. The chorus bursts open like a rush of air, and the whole track has a gravitational pull that made me want to loop it. “Hashem” brought a kind of quiet sadness that reminded me of Big Thief, with transitions that felt both delicate and powerful. It gave the album some emotional depth and made me appreciate the balance between the noisier songs and the ones that lean into subtlety.

When I saw a track titled “John Mulaney,” I was not sure what to expect. He is a funny guy, but Wetsuit used the title as a way into something stranger. The vocals at times veer into a kind of yodel, which somehow works. “107.7” felt like pure momentum, the drummer really drives this one, pushing it into heavier territory. “Always Sunny” lightens the mood and might be the record’s most infectious cut, with a vocal performance that felt like the band was truly locking in. And “The Fog” closes in a way that surprised me. For most of its runtime it is hushed and restrained, but then it climbs into one of the album’s most epic and intense peaks, a perfect closer that feels earned.

For me, this record was not just about nostalgia. I grew up with this sound, blasting it as a teenager in the 90s, and hearing Wetsuit revisit that lineage with their own spin was both grounding and exciting. Yarn for Future Scarves feels like proof that indie rock’s spark has not gone out. It just keeps reshaping itself for the next generation, and this album is a reminder of why I fell in love with the genre in the first place.