House of Wolves

Although this winter is mild, for the most part, winters in Chicago fucking blow. Last week a 'heat wave' came through while snow was on the ground making it foggy as Fuck. It was a miserable and gloomy day….a perfect day for some slow and depressing music.

Disclaimer: I'm hesitant about using the word 'depressing' to describe music because it has such a bad connotation. With music, depressing doesn't necessarily mean bad. It can share traits with such adjectives as beautiful, haunting, and dramatic. All of these words happen to be a perfect description for the album Fold in the Wind by House of Wolves.

I came across this Fold in the Wind while scouring Bandcamp for something new because I have been in a music funk as of late. The shitty weather may have had a little to do with it, but I connected to this album as soon as I heard the first line of the first track. I'm not much of a lyric enthusiast. In fact, I'd say that lyrics are generally over analyzed and not a detrimental piece to a good song. However, occasionally lines that contain such great imagery will jump out and grab my attention. This line, 'Kiss me like it's the 50's' is a simple request that can transport you to time where people's conception of romance were taken from film's like Casablanca. I'm not even the least bit romantic and I suddenly wanted to have a steamy make out session complete with some over-the-clothes heavy petting in the back seat of my grandparent's '57 Chevy.

As I listened further, I was struck by the minimalism of the songs laid over a retro-sounding lo-fi production. Simple guitar strums and long sustaining piano chords are the underlying structure to most of the songs, but yet, they have so much depth. Singer/songwriter Rey Villalobos' is brilliant. The vocals are perfect and the arrangements are clever. Subtle additions of instruments and vocal layering build the tracks effortlessly.

So many good tracks populate the album. 50's is romantic, Ageless is timeless, and Jealous is painfully vulnerable. However, if you are going to be a dick and only listen to one track, you MUST listen to Follow Me. It always amazes me how songwriters are able to make a single note so impactful that it brings you to your knees. Grab a pair of headphones, sit on your couch, and around the 2.00 mark it will feel as if you are sinking deeper into you cushions. A couple of long sustaining guitar notes suffocate you while they swirl around the background. It's like the prolonged orgasm experienced in Tantric ritual. It keeps going and going and going until your body shuts down from over stimulation.

Fold in the Wind is definitely one of the best albums I've listened to so far this year. Check it out if you like Elliott Smith, or Cass McCombs, or even Bon Iver.