Wild Belle—the name sounds strikingly strong and sensual, as if it could easily befit a horse with a muscular build and slick coat reflecting the sunlight as it gallops, exuding an undeniable mixture of virility and grace. But the history of the band’s name is slightly less dramatically equine—a nod to both its multi-instrumentalist members. Singer Natalie “Belle” Bergman’s middle name simultaneously recollects her older brother Elliot’s infatuation with bells and collecting them.
But any initial impression of tender inner strength is perhaps not too far from the emotions called up by the duo’s debut album. Isles is many things, but perhaps above all, it’s a collection of raw feeling. In one respect, Wild Belle’s repertoire recognizes the diverse yet relatable experiences both Bergman siblings have had with loss, particularly the loss of loved ones—familial and romantic. Musically, Elliot explains, it draws from the duo’s collective “listening history” that includes artists from Prince and Michael Jackson to Joni Mitchell and Sun Ra.
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“I feel like it’s all sort of like soul music at its core,” he says, noting at the same time, however, that he wants to maintain the kind of hybridity in his art that he and Natalie have always admired in the work of those like James Brown. “It’s personal, and it’s kind of like the shared set of influences that we have. It’s not going to be, ‘Oh, we’re the new this.’ You know, ‘cause hopefully we’re not that derivative.”
Growing up eight years apart in a household in which their “own worlds” intersected through the presence of their mother—a musician and music journalist whose varied existence brought a continuous influx of guitar players and singers into her children’s realm—the Bergman siblings were never primed to be derivative.
“[There were] funny, mixed things happening around the house, so I think we all kind of picked up on that,” Elliot says. “Different things side by side seemed to make sense to us.”
Variety seems to make sense to their audience as well. On August 8, Time Magazine listed Wild Belle as a “band to watch,” and in the less than two years they’ve been on the scene, the brother-sister duo has performed on Conan and greeted throngs of people at Chicago’s Lollapalooza with chilly vocals, breezy sax and that signature combination of strength and fragility they’ve perfected.
Of course, there are the usual difficulties and disappointments—hours on the road take on an additional oppressiveness in light of the disheartening financial trajectory of the record industry. And then some listeners misunderstand their sound completely, quickly labeling the Bergman siblings an offshoot of Lana Del Rey, but the two appear to remain undeterred in what Elliot says is the duo’s central hope.
“As a whole, people are becoming more and more isolated and addicted to their phones and computers,” he says. “The sort of thing that we can do against that is play music with each other, and connect as real humans, and dance together and sing together. You know, those are the things we still have.”
Wild Belle perform on the BMI Stage on Saturday, September 7 at 7:30 p.m. For more info, visit our LouFest Guide, or go to loufest.com.
