Written by Shelby Schulz | January 11, 2026

It was a cold night in Austin when Wabie opened up for Summar Salt at Mohawk in late January. Members of the band appeared on stage, clothed in sweaters and jackets, rubbing their hands together for warmth. But the cold wasn't going to stop them from putting on a great show.

Wabie is from Los Angeles, CA and has been creating deeply personal music for the past 8 years. Wabie isn't just a musician though. While he writes and produces his own music, he also creates pottery, animated videos and has even developed a video game.

Wabie was comfortable on the stage, warming up with crowd with humor. He opened his set with his own rendition of The Daughters of Eve’s “Hey, Lover”, much to the crowd’s excitement. Not long after he shook out his hands and confessed “I can't feel my fingers”. After performing another original song or two, Wabie told the audience that they had “one more song” which resulted in half-hearted cheers and confusion. He quickly revealed the joke by reassuring everyone that he was kidding and there would be a few more. This joke turned into an inside joke between the crowd, as after each song Wabie implied that the next song may or may not be the last.

Near the end of the set, Wabie performed a new song for the first time live, featuring a duet with synth-playing bandmate Rachel Rhodes. At the song’s conclusion he told the audience that he and Rachel had written the song about a year and a half ago when they started dating. Shouts of “AWWW” burst forth from the audience as a result.

Transitioning into the headliner, Summer Salt climbed onstage, the temperature still chilly in the 30s. Someone in the audience commented that they were starting to warm up and guitarist Matthew Terry responded in agreement shouting: “yeah let's warm up” before jumping right into a song.

Summer Salt, originally from Austin and defines their music as “breeze-pop”. They have released 4 albums, the latest of which was self-produced. Summer Salt did a fantastic job of keeping the audience’s mind off of the cold with their warm sound. The vocals were soothing and the entire crowd was like a wave with everyone bouncing up and down to the beat.

Summer Salt also kept things fresh throughout the set by occasionally mixing things up. Sometimes Matthew Terry would take the lead on vocals, other times drummer Eugene Chung would hop on the mic. Terry also played the harmonica on a few songs in accompaniment of his own guitar.

Both Wabie and Summer Salt made this winter evening at Mohawk feel cozy and intimate. They were eager to engage with the crowd and kept them entertained throughout the evening. It was a successful start to their North American tour.

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