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Wand - 1000 Days

  • Published in Albums

The almost pop beginning of Wand’s third album 1000 Days could initially have you thinking they’ve had a serious change of musical direction in the brief number of months that have passed since the release of Golem earlier this year. The weighty riffs that we’ve come to know and love are though still there, just married up with a bit of shinier production and more psychedelic elements than on previous releases. They’ve also expanded out to fit in a dozen songs so there’s not really any room for complaint.

In point of fact the band have rather gone down the road that Ty Segall & Mikal Cronin occasionally travel when they lower the fuzz quotient in their output and fancy being a bit fey. Quality-wise there’s on the whole no dip and they show that they can amply handle what could be termed a more mature sound palate and ape Tyrannosaurus Rex with the best of them.

Where the greatest differences between the band’s first albums and 1000 Days lies is in the pace. Things get slowed right down on the likes of ‘Broken Sun’ and the title title track as the aim is for something momentous rather than a ground-level assault on the senses. ‘Lower Order’ and other songs do though, at least musically, aim to get in at the front door to give you the kind of shoving about that you’d normally expect to undergo.

The album’s one mis-step is the ethereal, pseudo-tribal instrumental ‘Dovetail’. Whether it would come over better if placed elsewhere in the running order (either right at the start or right at the end) is debatable but stuck in the middle of the album it does little other than interrupt the flow.  

A move forward then from Wand (unsurprising really given the inventiveness they clearly possess) and one that they pull off with no causes for concern or signs of running out of steam. Unlike Kennedy 1000 Days is not going to be the end of them.

1000 Days is available from amazon and iTunes.

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Wand - Golem

  • Published in Albums

Riffs the weight of reinforced concrete and a lyrical nod to Roky Erickson in the first few seconds of 'The Unexplored Map' leave you in no doubt that Wand are back with a vengeance on their second album. It's not all heads down, pile-driving though as the sweetly clean vocal elements in recent single 'Self Hypnosis In 3 Days' and the pure psychedelia of 'Melted Rope' show off the group's wider abilities.

Their good line in found sounds remains as well with plenty of rustlings, gurglings and scrapings between and around the songs. Ultimately though it is those riffs that occupy the foreground of your attention here. Time and again the quartet pound away to great effect over the course of the bulk of the album's nine tracks.

Space rock is therefore I suppose the tag you can most readily apply to what the lads have produced here (from start to finish a job of only 12 days) although there's very evidently a strong punk element bouncing around just beneath the surface, something less obviously in the mix on debut album Ganglion Reef

Given how accomplished that aforementioned debut was the strength of the songs on Golem comes as no surprise. Having now seen how young the band appear the possibility of them adding many more releases of this quality to their tally is a distinctly pleasing one as they look like they've amassed barely 60 years on the planet between them to date. Talent of this level deserves all the outlets that can be afforded it.

Golem is available from amazon & iTunes.

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