Hailing from Wilmington, North Carolina, here is a story of two
buddies, one a drummer from Thunderlip!, one a frontman and guitarist
for ASG, never quite being able to make time to write and perform
together. Wildlights (formerly known as Crusades) marks the point in
time where they have finally been able to join forces. From the sound of
this self-titled debut, it’s been worth the wait as they conjure music
that marries the sand-blasted desert rock scrawl of the West Coast with
the swampy, distorted blues crush of the Deep South.
Imagine if Torche hoovered the uplifting braggadocio and enslaving
hooks of Audrey Horne – that’s what this is. It’s emphatically
boisterous, effortlessly driving and engagingly addictive. From the
opening drumroll and fizzing vocal blast of “Anchors”, it’s a
riff-worthy, chorus-led sequence of poppy panache meets hard rocking
grunt. There are hints of Arlo’s glossy sheen stumbling their merry way
into the multi-tracked vocals of Shi on “Part Of The Sea”. Yet there’s
also a darker tone in there that pulls at the inventive crescendos and
shading of Baroness’ John Dyer Baizley and the way he pulls out top
notes from the most sombre of places.
The slow-quick majesty of the earworm “Snow Song” pulls a choral hook
from the heavens themselves. Enigmatically crisp and strangely
familiar, it feels like a homecoming – an emotional centre of warmth and
hope. It’s a theme that runs throughout the album. There are no true
edges here, merely gentle warnings and then reassurance in the soft down
of the songwriting.
“Onward Upward” struggles to gain a foothold with its dissolute
phrasing, narrow structure and run-time but, to be fair, there are other
tracks that could be tagged as equally unadventurous even when they hit
the mark. Certainly, the glowing touchstone of “New Year Repeat”
corrects any imbalance by building elegiacally to a cosmos-scraping hook
and a wonderful arpeggio guitar that trips the light fantastic before
plunging to the very depths of the ocean.
Wildlights pull at the loose threads left by others leaving the dark
mesh behind them to create effortlessly light, airy, voraciously catchy
pieces of driving rock that are an utter joy. Like a meteor traIling
fluoresence and fire across a black night’s sky – I urge you to follow.
Also online @ Ave Noctum = http://www.avenoctum.com/2015/08/wildlights-st-season-of-mist/
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