Wight Announce Hiatus
Darmstadt, Germany’s Wight have put out word that they’re ready to not be a band anymore. Maybe for a while, maybe forever, maybe they’ll do something again, maybe not, but this isn’t the kind of thing where the band is breaking up because somebody threw a chair at someone else. At least that’s not the vibe one gets from their statement posted below, and you know Wight have always been all about vibe.
The announcement of their hiatus, which is what it maths out to be, comes one year after their most recent single, the somewhat sleazy “St. Tropez,” and five years after their most recent album, Spank the World (review here). This was the fourth full-length from the band, who had already by then moved through the stoner idolatry of their 2011 debut, Wight Weedy Wight (review here), which was reissued in 2023, and the heavy psychedelia of the subsequent 2012 LP, Through the Woods into Deep Water (review here), into the way-funkier ground of 2016’s Love is Not Only What You Know (review here) to make a defining statement. In melody, groove and craft, they embodied a heavy funk rock that was neither cynical nor overly serious, and they always seemed to remember that physical movement and the inciting of it were crucial to the effectiveness of the material. Spank the World was a more than worthy follow-up as the band dug further into soul and classic shuffle.
But these things run their course. And if it’s not there right now, why on earth would you try to force it to be. I’ve been in touch with René Hofmann since the first record, and I wish him and the rest of the band the best going forward, whether that’s with future projects, an eventual return to Wight, or not. It was a pleasure to watch this band progress and come into their own, and as they hang it up potentially forever, I’m glad to see their ending be a happy one.
From social media:
This photo captures the ecstasy of our last weekend—and truly, the last 17 years together. After nearly a year with the amazing Lara Fischer on bass, it’s time for us to take a well-deserved pause.
Seventeen years of music, madness, love, and growth. We’ll let our song ideas ferment for a while before we gather again in our creative kitchen to cook up new soul food for your ears.
For now, we just want to live—because life itself, in all its fullness, is the root of creativity. We thank ourselves for staying true, for standing by each other with acceptance, understanding, and love. And we thank YOU—our audience, our community, the salt in our soup. You shared your lives with us on stage, in every show, every record, every stream. That’s the greatest gift we could ever receive.
We’ll meet again, someday… in the eternal now.
⸻
Photo by @colorandtones
https://wight.bandcamp.com/
https://instagram.com/wightism/
https://facebook.com/wightism
Good luck to them but – BOO!