Wilburs - C’est La Vie

​Wilburs

C’est La Vie
self-released; 2024

​3.9 out of 5

​​By ​Dino DiMuro

Wilburs is an indie-folk rock alt-metal band with a quite scary Bandcamp page, and that’s where you can find their latest single C’est La Vie. The project is led by Justin Wayne Moore (guitars/bass/drum programming/vocals) with help from Josh Talent (lead guitar) and Drue Fairlie (spoken word). Moore describes the music as “Sounds of mental breakdowns, sinews moving bones. I made a haunted house and decided to call it home.”

Moore recorded, mixed and mastered at his Evansville, Indiana home “through a period of confusion and depression.”  He breaks down the track as having “some Latin metal influence mixed with some D’Angelo type backup vocals that progresses and twists as the song continues, eventually leading into metal heavy breakdowns and spoken word bridges.” There’s also a bonus track, though there’s reference to a “track three” that does not seem to exist.

“C’est La Vie” hits the ground running with a jerky, bedroom-funk arrangement and all sorts of voices (including a lead singer channeling Rick James), heavily treated and then even more heavily treated! The beat is inescapable and the blasts of rock noise can’t be ignored. This is one of the loudest singles I’ve heard in a while and yet I keep turning it up louder! Josh Talent lives up to his name with some killer lead guitar intrusions. Did I mention this track is LOUD? The funk becomes more prominent around the four-minute mark, which is also where the guys let the mix breathe just a tiny bit. I’m also really noticing the strong bass guitar for the first time here at the end

“Cute” is the bonus track (“If you give a darn,” Moore says) featuring Moore’s best friend and longtime collaborator Michael K. Simcox on vocals and production. This verses sound like DEVO, if DEVO actually loosened up in a grimy club one night, while the choruses are an unholy blend of Nirvana, The Runaways and the B-52’s. A really fun and engaging song, with the same nuts-to-the-wall production style as the first track. The main guitar seems to be fed through an electric razor!

Two (not three) wild tracks that deserve several lessons. Check them out!

music.apple.com/us/album/cest-la-vie-single/1756733879

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