wave to earth Drop New Album 'bad pieces' and Announce 22-Date North America Tour Starting September 4

South Korean indie rock band wave to earth released their new album bad pieces on August 7, 2026. A music video for the album's single "courage" dropped the same day.

The album is the second full-length from the trio, which consists of Daniel Kim, John Cha, and Dong Q. The band signed to independent label WAVY before releasing their debut full-length 0.1 flaws and all in 2023.

The members described bad pieces as a deliberate shift in sound, driven by studying older records and incorporating the instruments and analog textures found on them.

"We studied a lot of records from the past, and we wanted to incorporate the sounds and the instruments used on those records. As we started using these new sounds, we felt like, apart from them feeling analog, they bring a certain type of inspiration," said Kim. "Sonically, it's about establishing a new sound for wave to earth," Cha added. "We were talking about how, maybe, we can't do what we did before, because that sound was already out there."

The album's lead single "heaven and hell" drew comparisons to folk and country textures. The FADER described it as "a warm gust of acoustic guitar and folksy pedal steel" that "suggests a new sonic direction for the band."

According to the release, the band has accumulated over 7 million monthly listeners on Spotify. Their 2020 track "seasons" has crossed 500 million streams, and their 2023 single "bad" reached No. 1 on Spotify's Global Viral 50, according to the release.

To support bad pieces, wave to earth will launch "the pieces tour" this fall, promoted by Live Nation. The North America leg runs September 4 through October 11, covering 22 cities. It opens at Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre in Vancouver and includes stops at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on September 29 and the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles on September 9. Other cities include Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, Minneapolis, Atlanta, Austin, Houston, Dallas, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Denver, Salt Lake City, San Diego, Phoenix, Charlotte, Montreal, Toronto, and Mexico City.

An Asia leg follows in November, with shows in Bangkok, Manila, Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Taipei, Osaka, and Tokyo.

For independent artists watching this trajectory: wave to earth built their global fanbase on a single consistent lo-fi sound released on an indie label, then chose to change direction at the moment it was working best. That is a reminder that owning your sound means you also get to decide when to leave it behind.