Yes, the vocals
of James Johnson on Baltimore, Ohio’s quartet Wilderness’ debut
self-titled album do bear more than a passing resemblance
to Jon
Lydon, circa Public Image Ltd. But it should not, and
does not, matter. What is essential is that this is
some of the most exciting indie guitar rock heard in
years.
Yes, that’s right: exciting indie guitar rock – the
guitars on Wilderness dip and soar, scrape
and ache, are pretty and gorgeous and everything
that indie rock guitars essentially should be. Recorded
last year with Chad Clark (The Dismemberment Plan)
and T.J. Lipple (Blue Velvet, Aloha), it actually
took the four-piece three years to craft Wilderness.
And my oh my how it shows.
You see, every layer (upon layer) of Wilderness feels
like thought and sense has gone into it – from the
groove-laden drum and spindly guitar opening of “Arkless” to
the expansive build-and-fall of “Post Plethoric Rhetoric” to
the piano-driven classical/jazziness of closer “Mirrored
Palm”, the scope of Wilderness is nothing short of
astonishing on this debut. The band want to push
their own boundaries, that much is clear.
What’s most exciting about it is that they actually
manage to achieve that – whilst there’s no definable ‘single’,
with “Fly Further to See” the closest the band gets
to something of that nature, Wilderness is
an album in the truest sense of the word. The band
want to take the listener on a journey on Wilderness,
and for just on three-quarters of an hour, that’s
exactly what they do.
Really, it’s the perfect length: there’s only so
long that any one person can stand such an intensity,
and forty-five minutes about sees Wilderness out.
It’s not too long as to outstay its welcome, nor
too short as to leave you wanting more. There’s no
doubt that part of the charm of the album is that
it’s something that as a listener you feel inextricably
drawn back towards – like its kaleidoscopic cover
artwork, there’s always something new to find throughout Wilderness.
