I am without a doubt over the moon for Wild Life’s Aquarius Moon. I welcome when this album will haunt my dreams in the best way. The group stretched out their strengths and grabbed hold of every corner of the indie rock chart. You get psych, grunge and some good ole fashioned heavy rock in the mix. This album was so exciting for me, it was equal parts cool and savage.
I want to start by speaking directly to vocalist Malerie Day and ask, where have you been all my life? This woman’s voice is utterly fabulous. She can wield it like a battle axe or a stealthy, poisonous needle. She has so much range in terms of tone and inflection. She is not afraid to get gruff and gnarly. This album was the first time she had been in the studio with a full band and she took to it like a fish to water. Her partners in crime, bassist Nicholas Aruda and drummer Matt Reinhardt are slayers at their craft. They can slide through genres and moods like snakes in the grass - seamless, innovative work from these guys. Riddle me this, how many indie rock bands open their four-track album with an eight- and-a-half-minute psych rock extravaganza like “Aquarius Moon?” This band has some seriously sized trouser melons to kick things off on a track like that. I think for most people, a song the size and caliber of “Aquarius Moon” belongs at the end of an album. I love that Wild Life flipped the script. They didn’t just come out swinging, they clobbered me into submission and I was begging for more. The opener starts in a cool grungy/psych place and then kicks things up to eleven as it delves into some seriously wicked heavy rock. Next up came “I Can’t Help It.” Now things have calmed down quite a bit and you’re in the swirl of a more brooding psych indie rock experience. This track was more about the lyrics for me. The music was lovely, but a little “meh” if I’m being honest. Track three is “Adorned” and is very appealing. This song fell into an area where I could hear it on mainstream radio and I mean that as a compliment. Very unexpected with its lightness and excellent rhythm lead by Aruda and Reinhardt. The song that has my heart held hostage happens to be the last “Haunt You.” No bones about it, this song is nasty business and I love it. This is what holding a grudge sounds like, and it’s delicious. Vicious lyrics combined with Day’s undeniably badass vocal style and I was done for. Day he made sure to give credit to the album’s audio engineer Chaimes Parker at Big Nice Studio in Lincoln, Rhode Island. She clearly knew what I quickly learned that she was in good hands with Parker. The sound quality on this album is superb. Everything about this album screamed “buy me” and I have a feeling it will do the same for a lot of those who take the time to check it out.
1 Comment
Bill
9/5/2017 09:21:04 pm
Vocalist is good. The songwriting could be more interesting, and I liked the band's sound better when they where the Cranberries.
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