You best get on the Wild Child bandwagon now. The song “Pillow Talk” — leading off the 2011 release of the same name — is a bittersweet, ukulele-powered breakup tune. While saccharine, the song is utterly charming with a he-said-she-said storyline shared by primary songwriters Alexander Beggins and Kelsey Wilson. Use it in a sentimental iPhone ad or roll it over the credits of the right Ryan Gosling movie and it’d be a massive hit on par with the Lumineers’ “Hey Ho” or “Such Great Heights” by The Postal Service. Nobody likes a breakup, but if it has to happen we hope our heartbreak is as cinematic and sweet as “Pillow Talk.”
So far Pillow Talk hasn’t been played into the ground, though it deserves to be. The album’s precious indie folk songs still feel like our little secret, like the innocent buzz of early infatuation with about as much substance. “The Tale of You & Me” is a bracing, Edward Sharpe/Arcade Fire-style shout-along; “Someone Else” is a swingin’ and jazzy double-time folk tune, featuring penny whistle and banjo; “The Escape” drives forward like a twee Modest Mouse song and “Cocaine Hurricane” could be a Kimya Dawson track. So discover the Austin, Texas-based group now before it’s too late. I predict our luck won’t hold out much longer. An ad exec or movie producer will catch on, exploiting Wild Child’s cutesiness at the expense of their charm. And then of course, like an ill-fated love affair — it’ll all be over.
Wild Child plays with Whiskey Shivers 9:30 pm Friday, Aug. 16, at Sam Bond’s Garage; $6.