Wand - Golem
- Written by Kenneth McMurtrie
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.
