Wesley Wolfe - Numbskull (Chased By Flying Monkeys)
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| Wesley Wolfe - Numbskull |
Who's up for some
straight-down-the-line, no messing, indie-surf-pop with more melodies than you
can shake a bucket and spade at? Shame, cos that's exactly what we've got here.
Wesley Wolfe and his collected bandmates are a little bit adept at that style
of indie-pop that Reddkross and We Are Scientists do so well. The opening triumvirate
of tracks - 'Lost In My Daydreams', 'Cloud Cuckoo' and 'Fragment Of A Dream' -
are all sunny day songs with melodies that are made for lying in a field of
daisies doing so half-assed cloud spotting and generally letting life wash over
you. Title track, 'Numbskull', is a low-slung, Pixies inspired piece of
slackerdom while 'Jesus Eyes' has the sort of woozy, summer afternoon feeling
that Swim Deep manage so well but with a more crooning approach to the vocal
deliver that the likes of Eels and Jim Noir would approve of with a wry nod.
The second half of the album gets
underway with 'Deathrow' which has a Killers feel to it before 'Read My Mind'
is a more intense, Weezer-esque piece of surf-pop with thumping drums and
beautifully drawled vocals. There is an infectious urgency to 'Kissing Frogs' which
is somewhere between the Cure and Blink 182 (yeah, that's a place) but then
'You Complicate Everything' comes along like Franz Ferdinand with a West Coast
vibe. The final track, 'All That Matters', is very much a downturn in vibe
along the lines of Eels or Beck on a grey Sunday morning. I have to admit that I
was expecting more from this album going on the write up the PR company gave it
but actually this kind of music doesn't need selling. This is the musical
equivalent of that guy you've always known who just turns up at the pub and is
a pleasure to be around without being hilarious or a pain in the ass. This
album would always get a round in though and that's always that matters really.
Albums buying drinks. I need a lie down.
More information: http://www.wesleywolfe.com/
Live Dates:
9th May - Release Show @ CHUG, Chapel Hill
31st May - Slim's, Raleigh w/State Champion