I’ll Huff, and I’ll Puff…
Oh dear my friends, the wolf is at the door, but unlike the little pigs who met with an unfortunate end, I am brave as I am equipped with this timely offering from, wait for it- The Wolf Howls When I Scream Your Name- and the even more expansive EP title, To Be Where There Is Pale Light. They have a strange multi- faceted aspect these titles, conjuring all manner of imagery, dramatic, romantic, poetic and theatric, ready to facilitate a thousand stories no doubt.
We begin with “Alive and All So Well” and I’m instantly in the company of Nick Cave, with his deep, rich voice( I’m not trying to make him sound like a chocolate cake).this is where the EP title resides, and much like a diaphanous veil, we are able to see into some other worldly domain, because the music lends itself to that. There is a mysterious quality; much like when I saw a recording of The National playing at Drill Hall, NYC, these songs are absorbing even for the most non-porous of souls.
We have a nod and a wink to The Vines next in “Migraine” – anguished and angelic at the same time, it’s a characteristic through the whole of the EP.
“The moments gone, its passed you by” from “No Alibi”- well it’s the story of my life, too scared to take the reins and then “It Hurts Me”, a very Bauhaus ( undead, undead, undead) like experience, gloomy, haunting.
“Lover Grieve” ends this little soundbite and I’m hoping there is more to come from our friends here. I love the stripped back arrangement, just one man and his guitar.
“No solace, no comfort, no escape” – sounds heavenly.
It is a no frills, no cheap thrills, just waist deep in a lover’s ills kinda song but well written, and well executed.
Little pig open the door and let the wolf in please.
The Wolf Howls When I Scream Your Name – To Be Where There Is Pale Light.
Out 22nd April, on self- release.