Search - Wilderness :: Wilderness

Don't blame the messenger

John L Murphy | Los Angeles | 08/12/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Well, after Pitchfork's review and the blurb on Jagjaguwar's website, I grabbed this immediately. I always liked John Lydon's vocals more than much of the music of PIL; I liked the earlier Cure's music more than Robert Smith's yowl. This album, then, sounds just right, I thought, as I listened to the first song. But then eight others followed with practically the same melody, beat, and pace. Make-out music for goths, perhaps? The template's appealing for a few minutes, but not over the entire album. It sets a mood, and then the mood sets in and stops any momentum or progression for 90% of the set. Only the keyboards at the end hearken towards another set of sonic possibility.



The band's not bad at what they do, but can't they do more? Combining what indeed is a Lydonesque wail with a steadily downbeat early-80s post-punk progression of chords works, as I said, nicely. But more musical experimentation is needed to offset ennui on the listener's part. If PIL and post-punk had somehow never existed, this pairing would be astonishing. 25 years on, however, to those of us who were around for the original inspirations for Wilderness, this marriage lacks spark.



I do hope the band continues to challenge themselves and stretch their capabilities further. I'm not willing to give up on them. For a comparison of another band on the label that re-works to better effect older influences, try Black Mountain's s/t debut."

Interesting music overshadowed by fill-in-the-blank vocals

Wounded Knee | Ohio's North Coast... | 07/19/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Soul Asylum's Dave Pirner once said something to the effect that songwriting is best when it's simple: three chords and story. Well, understand up front that Wilderness step outside of that paradigm - way outside. Most of the songs take more of a free-form, "post rock" approach (for want of a better or less worn-out categorization) that eschews the traditional verse-chorus-verse pop/rock songwriting formula. They're copping elements of the mid-'80s alt-rock sound, though -- kind of along the lines of Echo and the Bunnymen and "Sister"-era Sonic Youth, given the chiming, brittle guitar lines. From a more contemporary perspective, they also bear slight aural resemblance to Interpol, but Wilderness' playing is on the whole more technically proficient and the album production is denser and more complex (which is welcome - no McMusic here, kids!)...



Had to laugh at the first review that said this resembled a metal album... Though that couldn't be further from the truth musically, there is a metal/hard rock connection with the vocal performance. Aside from the lyrics being largely opaque (hinting, I believe, at the virtues of civil disobedience and the ironic prison of nationalism we're building in the U.S. these days), they way they are delivered - brusque shouts and moans, often uttered in near-indecipherable fashion - eventually wears the listener down to the point of not caring about either the manifest OR latent message. Granted, incorporating such non-traditional vocal styles have been the hallmarks of some successful experimental hard rock/metal vocalists (e.g., Neil Fallon, Mike Patton and Maynard James Keenan), but the key is that they know when to mix it up and adopt a more traditional style. And that's what makes the vocals here so frustrating - they're so pervasively irritating that it's hard to believe that they're not a gimmick to attract attention.



On the whole, though, it's a worthy debut. These guys have clear musical talent - check out the beautiful piano ballad finale. Just hope that vocalist colors within the lines a little bit more on an future releases. Do it for the kids, man."

Earth meets sky

K. D. Kelly | sf, ca | 12/17/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Every once in a while a song slaps you in the face like Burgess Meredith in "Rocky" shaking you back to reality in the last round. Not since Frost Bite's "Loose My Mind" have I found myself playing a song -- this time Wilderness' "Arkless" -- over and over till it's raw and bleeding. But whereas Frost Bite's (the delicious-sounding pairing of Sugarcubes' Einar Orn and Kate Jane Garside of Daisy Chainsaw and Queenadreena) sole release fell short, Wilderness delivers a deft, dense nugget. Singer James Johnson's queer warble is worth the price of admission alone, like an oddly tasty pairing of cranberry and gorgonzola, at times reminiscent of PIL-era John Lydon, the more vituperate (and secretive) singer for Test Dept. and perhaps what The Fall's Mark E. Smith would sound like as a banshee. The music is percussive, clanging like early Savage Republic; occasionally jerky, off-tempo like Fugazi, but spacious and untamed as the name implies. The stew brewed is infectious and the 80s-fever bandwagon comparisons inevitable just as it was for Bloc Party, whose "Silent Alarm" channeled the frenzy U2's "Boy" while the band carved its own knot on the tree of sound. Unlike Bloc Party, Wilderness is not invited to your frat party - in fact, I have a feeling they're at home in the basement building homemade stalagmites."