Somehow, and without nearly enough fanfare for doing it, Wand have become perhaps the best band in America today. The group's latest release, the epic Laughing Matter, drops on Drag City tomorrow. It covers both familiar territory, as well as maps out a slightly new style for these musicians.
Opener "Scarecrow" feels like Radiohead trying their darnedest to cover Yo La Tengo only to have the whole thing turn into a mild freak-out, while the brighter "Thin Air" melds the kind of melody Syd Barrett might have once written with a faintly jazz-y brand of indie-pop. Despite bursts of feedback in this one and others, Wand are far more interested in texture on Laughing Matter than they have been in the past. Where they'd once pursued what we could usually stand up next to something from Ty Segall or another peer who looks to the acid rock days for inspiration, now Wand seem to have perfected their own unique style of post-rock. If anything, lots of Laughter Matter is to me as richly evocative as that superb solo album from leader Cory Hanson.
Still, the other players here -- Evan Burrows, Sofia Arreguin, Lee. Landey, Robert Cody -- imbue these new tunes with plenty of melody and spark. While some of this, like the fine "Wonder" or "Walkie Talkie", seems very accessible, a nice blending of the band's experimental past compositions with really big hooks, there's even more on Laughing Matter that pushes the envelope a bit. The lengthy "Airplane" feels like old King Crimson at times, while the fuzzy "Lucky's Sight" roars like an early Medicine side. This is bracing stuff, and its placement on Laughing Matter before the aching and beautiful album closer, "Jennifer's Gone", creates a nice juxtaposition of moods that Wand didn't always maintain on earlier albums. For that reason, and others, I'd rank Laughing Matter as the best Wand record to date.
Laughing Matter is out tomorrow via Drag City.
More details on Wand via the band's official website.
[Photo: Abby Brooks]