The new Wolfhounds record crackles with energy and whip-smart lyrics. The band's sounded more invigorated with each recent release, but Electric Music, out now via A Turntable Friend, is really impressive. David Callahan here, fired up by the chaos and ill-sense of Brexit and a dozen other modern woes, uses these tunes to remind himself and any listener within earshot of how cathartic guitar-rock can be.
"Like Driftwood" roars and yearns over the back of the loveliest melody that band has likely ever offered up, even as the guitars create a racket around it, while "Can't See The Light" looks for hope amid mindlessness. It's not nearly as existential and despairing as it sounds, but there's a real sense here of a band playing to keep from drowning, you know? While those are necessarily riotous numbers, "Pointless Killing" uses a more stately rhythm to make its points. Sounding a bit like Chameleons spin-off The Sun and the Moon here, The Wolfhounds rage on this track while seeking some clarity on the other side.
If "...and Electric Music" made me think of Killing Joke a bit, "Lightning's Going to Strike Again" seemed more nuanced, with the guitars and drums here anchoring this ruminative number. Elsewhere, "Stand Apart" is more direct, an anthem for those who'd resist the bullshit. It is a bright offering, as are many of the selections here, but there's a sense throughout Electric Music that we're hearing a band fight back. It seems silly to write, but this is the kind of record that The Wolfhounds seemed to have been building up to the last few years. Or maybe things just had to get so bad before Callahan and crew could get this impassioned and fired up? Electric Music is tight, concise, punchy, and ferocious. For every band who you didn't want to reunite or return, you can point to this as an example of precisely why sometimes the best bands from the past are just as necessary now. Thank God for The Wolfhounds.
Electric Music is out now via A Turntable Friend.
More details on The Wolfhounds via the official Facebook page.
[Photo: Andrew Springham]