Wasia Project, the sibling duo of Olivia Hardy and William Gao, are currently in the midst of their first North American headlining tour and made a stop at The Foundry in Philly on October 1st. The tour is in support of their recently released Isotope EP and comes only months after their US debut touring with Laufey. I first became acquainted with them when they released their infectious 2023 single “Petals on the Moon” and have since been obsessed with their 2022 debut EP (how can i pretend?). Featuring the beautiful piano ballad “ur so pretty” (which was featured on the season 2 finale of Heartstopper), I fell in love with their brand of jazzy and emotional bedroom pop. On Isotope, their sound is even more ambitious and sophisticated – it’s a dramatic and theatrical masterpiece that’s accompanied by an equally ambitious short film.
Dressed isotope chic, they kicked of their set with Isotope opener “Is This What Love Is?”. Hardy’s vocals sparkled as she gracefully drifted throughout the stage. Midway through their set, the remainder of the band left the stage leaving Gao and Hardy to perform their most intimate songs – I genuinely shed a tear during “ur so pretty”. For “my vine”, the audience waved their phone flashlights in the air and sang along during the song’s outro. The band also surprised with a super groovy cover of Sade’s “Smooth Operator” that featured a rollicking analog synth solo and an audience singalong in a round. Gao took over with his buttery smooth baritone vocals on Isotope track “To Get Better” – I got chills during the song’s climax when the full band came in and Gao crooned ‘I promise that I’ll make it better’. They closed out their set in theatric fashion with “Somebody Come Through” and “Tell Me Lies” before returning to the stage with an encore of “Misfit Biscuit” and “impossible”. In classy fashion, they gave a bow to the audience before departing – these guys are just too damn cool, I can’t take it.
Wasia Project will be continuing on their North American tour through October – see all of their upcoming tour dates here. Watch the music video for Isotope track “Somebody Come Through” below and keep scrolling to see more photos from the show (including opener Sabrina Sterling).
