The Wants — Madison Velding-VanDam, Jason Gates, and Yasmin Haddad — inject the hypnotic pulse of techno into the practice of pop songwriting. Led by Velding-VanDam’s elusive duality of personas, which oscillate between earnestly romantic and unsettlingly deadpan, The Wants naturally forge a dark alley off the beaten path into danceable dissonance. Velding-VanDam’s vulnerable lyrics sometimes foray into the sardonically biting, reflecting the complex cycle of self-reflection of the current generation.
