Discovering the Sounds of the Metaverse: A Journey into the Heart and Mind of WAVE

There’s no need for signposts in this corner of the metaverse. Perhaps it’s the beckoning neon lights reflected in the glistening waters, or maybe it’s the pulsating rhythms sparking my character’s movements into life. Either way, the way forward is obvious. As I take my first step onto a rainbow railroad that effortlessly guides me towards my destination, I steal a moment to take stock of where I am, and why I’ve come here. 

Currently I’m inside Roblox, the metaverse platform of choice for a countless and befuddlingly diverse array of brands - including but by no means limited to the likes of Kellogg’s, Gucci, and Chipotle. I’m here because WAVE, a DJ based fully and utterly within the metaverse (and whose recently-released album included tracks composed for the automotive giant Kia), has now become part of a new experience in this digital domain: WAVE’s Heart + Mind. Whilst the experience itself is currently still in beta, LBB has been given an exclusive invite to find out what precisely is on offer - and what it might mean for brands looking to collaborate with WAVE. 

The concept, as its name suggests, is a journey into the cybernetic innards of WAVE themselves. Along the way visitors can expect to ‘explore, jump, and collect’ whilst they ‘listen, feel, and connect’, in the words of the experience’s description on the Roblox website. Pulling the strings of this show is a combination between the music and sound expertise of DaHouse audio, in collaboration with the visual effects mastery of Final Frontier. Tantalisingly, we’re invited into ‘the caverns of the heart’ before we ‘take the dancefloor by storm’ in the Mind Nightclub. So far, so conceptual. 

All of which has raised my excitement to palpable levels as I smoothly arrive at the inviting entrance of the experience. In front of me are two paths - one guiding me to the Heart, and another to the Mind. Head over heart? No chance. Without undue hesitation, I press forward into WAVE’s heart, and brace myself for whatever lies on the other side. 

Heart in the Right Place 

I’m not sure what I expected, but it wasn’t quite this. The gentle but undeniable beat of the exterior world has gone, replaced with a light but audible echo as I pace around what is indeed the enormous cavern of WAVE’s Heart. The silence is so loud that I can hear water droplets tumbling onto the ground from all corners of this sprawling interior. 

That lack of music, though, is the point. It doesn’t take much time to discover that the goal in this part of the experience is to unlock the keys to WAVE’s music, so that it can be released in this part of their body (if digital beings can be said to have a ‘body’) once more. 

It’s here that WAVE’s Heart + Mind strays closest towards what we might traditionally think of as a ‘videogame’. For all that this is a future-facing experience, the design here owes just as much to classic 90s platformers such as Super Mario 64 and Banjo Kazooie as it does to anything from this decade. But this proves to be a reassuring delight - the fundamentals of game design provide just as much fun here as they did for those kids unwrapping their Nintendo 64s with joy on any given Christmas Day in the late 90s. 

Bouncing high across copious clusters of mushrooms (again Super Mario World wields its influence), players must overcome the fear of a dizzying drop into ice cold cave water to find the elusive letters ‘W’, ‘A’, ‘V’, and ‘E’. Along the way, you’re likely to encounter a fair number of coins - more on which later. 

With the letters assembled, I’m met with a glorious reminder of why I came here in the first place. “Heartbeat”, one of the standout tracks from WAVE’s album relea∫e, immediately replaces the cavernous echo previously filling my ears. 

On which note, the experience gracefully beckons me towards its next and final chapter. With WAVE’s Heart conquered and restored, it’s time to travel to the Mind. 

On My Mind 

If WAVE’s Heart played out like a tribute to classic videogames, their Mind resembles more of an electric ode to the dancefloor. It’s the juxtaposition of the two, of course, which makes the entire WAVE project what it is - that futuristic clash between entertainment and musicality. 

Whilst the dancefloor takes up most of the real estate inside WAVE’s Mind, it’s either side where the real fun can be found. To the left is the stage - currently unoccupied, but waiting eagerly for the arrival of the titular pixelated performer themselves. To the right is a bar, accompanied by a series of merchandise stalls. Intrigued, I head over to check out the wares on offer. 

Ingeniously, the currency required to purchase the merch on offer in WAVE’s Mind are precisely those coins which can be found littered throughout the metaverse DJ’s Heart. So, my pockets heavy with said currency, I waste no time in exchanging it for a unique piece of WAVE memorabilia - the performer’s signature EVERIF headset. 

With this retail therapy-induced dopamine buzzing around my own mind, I set out towards the dancefloor where I discovered WAVE’s final secret: A photo mode. Like any decent digital tourist, I avail myself of the opportunity: 

Above: LBB’s Adam Bennett (or rather his metaverse avatar with significantly more hair) throws some shapes within WAVE’s Heart + Mind on Roblox, complete with the exclusive EVERIF accessory. 

And with that, my experience within WAVE’s Heart + Mind has come to an end. In a way, it’s a perfect encapsulation of WAVE themselves: A marriage between disparate ideas which, somehow, are utterly and uniquely interconnected. 

Just as with the metaverse itself, however, the overriding feeling is of a project with much more to come. Returning to that initial question of what this all might mean for brands, the possibilities are endless - here is an engrossing and enjoyable experience set entirely within the world of WAVE (in fact, within WAVE themselves). For brands looking to captivate audiences and provide memorable, one-off experiences, there’s a template here which is well worth following.

In truth, it’s impossible to say quite what we’ll see from WAVE next. But, whatever it is, we’ll be listening. 

To explore WAVE’s Heart + Mind for yourself, visit the experience’s page on Roblox here.