As DJ’s for the past two years or so, through their radio show Andreas and the Wolf has fed ears a rich diet of the very best DIY escapades within and outside of the Perfect Pop Co-Op family. Before and during that time they have also teased and excited with a collection of their own tracks; alternative electronica bred songs which have caught and inflamed the imagination into its own shenanigans. Now a highly anticipated debut album is poised to present the band’s full body of enterprise and an apologetically compelling piece of mischievous magnetism it is too.
Andreas and the Wolf is the creation and coming together of Andreas Vanderbraindrain (A.K.A Dermot Illogical of Reverse Family but maybe better known as frontman of The Tuesday Club) and Johnny V (The Scratch/The Tuesday Club). As mentioned their long time partnership has been more concentrated on their fine Andreas and the Wolf podcast and the Perfect Pop Co-Op label in recent times but as Fountain Of Truth proves that time has also seen their musical adventure together equally flourish.
From its first breath there is a healthy mix of nostalgia and bold uniqueness about the album’s sound. It is an enticement which is teasingly difficult to pin down but let us give a possible hint by saying the imagining of a fusion of Television Personalities, Subway Sect, and Fad Gadget with maybe the garage instincts of The Clean for further spicing gives a taste of what delights Fountain Of Truth shares.
All I Want is You sets the album off in beguiling style, its uncomplicated yet richly woven electro pop serenade swift captivation. Guitar and synth embrace their melodic hearts around the inimitable tones of Andreas, sleight but fertile hooks adding to the lure of sentiment part romantic yet just a bit patronising.
It is a potent start to the release which is quickly backed and eclipsed by The Public Domain. As rhythms offer their invitation a masterful bassline strides forward and fair to say from thereon in we were hooked. Its flirtatious swing is quickly straddled by Andreas’ just as tempting vocals, the fuzzy breath of guitar wrapped in the similarly teasing arms of keys. Everything about the song proved virulent, hips and appetite dancing to its punk lined devilry before Morbid Fascination unveiled its British Electric Foundation meets early Human League like shuffle. As suggested earlier though, it is one of a set of infection loaded songs which rises with individual character and a true uniqueness of sound.
Similarly each track offers up something different to that before within their echoes of shadows which crowd our lives, a lyrical theme and creative trait continuing with the synth pop contagion that is Spiral. With a musical grin carried by every note, the song lit up ears and spirit, its eighties inspired instincts a vocal temptation upon electronic nagging and off-kilter imagination. Familiarity and true freshness unite in its viral exploits and aberrant imagination, instincts which mark the album as a whole in varying but always present richness as Fashion Wheel proves with its Paul Haig-esque saunter. It is a song teasing glamour and grandness but always holds its reserve and control to only increase its allure and tension before eager attention.
Through the anomalous pop of the irresistible Friction Free Zone and the haunting tenebrous seduction of its title track, Fountain Of Truth only escalated its grip on ears and pleasure, both songs rivetingly adding further momentous peaks to its landscape with the latter built around another bassline which had the juices lustily flowing, while immediately after Dead Pan Delivery Man had limbs and hips swinging with its indie jangle meets electro pop punk contagion to leave another indelible mark on the imagination.
Limited Ambition brings the album to a close, the track an electro dub loaded stroll with its own atypical disposition though one which may have its seeds sown in a Swell Maps meets The Members bedding. It is a fascinating indeed hypnotic end to an album which has only festered in the passions and imagination for greater pleasure and personal indulgence by the play.
Whether through their radio shows or the rather wonderful Fountain of Truth, Andreas and The Wolf are here to light up our lives and with their first album they do that and more.
Fountain of Truth is released October 9th via Perfect Pop Co-Op.
Check out the Andreas and the Wolf radio shows @ https://www.mixcloud.com/perfectpopcoop/
https://andreasandthewolf.co.uk/ https://twitter.com/andreasandtwolf
Pete RingMaster 13/03/2020
Copyright RingMasterReview: MyFreeCopyright
Their new offering is bookended by the band’s previously released singles, Carol’s Dead and Night School, an entrance and departure which is worth the effort of digging into Back-Street Boys alone. The first of the two more taunts than invites attention with its initial resonating throb of bass and lure dangling guitar but with the same impossible to ignore intrigue at its core. As tenacious beats increasingly swung their manipulative bait and the band’s twitchy vocals united in a just as lively and devilish static dance on the ears, the track enslaved as it stomped around with irresistible dynamics and attitude. Teasing with essences reminding of bands such as Gang Of Four, Artery, and The Fall across its more forceful individuality, the song is glorious and one of the best tracks of the past decade.
The album carries the raw jangle of early Orange Juice, the pop disharmony of Josef K, and the sonic dissonance of Swell Maps whilst lyrically and vocally Finucane again embraces the inspirations of Mark E Smith and Lou Reed but all essences warped and mutated into its creator’s own imaginative and individual proposition. Vanishing Island opens up with War on Pain and immediately is baiting keen attention through a rhythmic pulsation swiftly joined by the inimitable tones of Finucane, his vocal delivery as maverick as his music. As the song expands with real catchiness to its swing infested hips, drone inspired melodies weave patterns in its sky colouring the route to the subsequent turbulence which from a simmer bubbles up and over.
Alongside and around it, the goodness is just as potent as epitomised by tracks like I’ve Had Enough and Superslider from Tagas and Venus Overload respectively. The first is a lively simmer of electro pop rock, a bubbling slice of melodic radiance echoed in similarly warm vocals, a track which just nags at the senses with its teasing harmonics. Tagas is a solo project, an intimate exploration and reflection of its creator and the track here an embrace of melancholy and warmth with a great early Depeche Mode hue to its temptation. The second of the two is a band which released a self-titled album back in 2012 from which their contribution to the sampler comes. Their sound is a collusion of experimental and noise rock, a challenging and rewarding mix which had us mesmerised. It is raw, abrasive and persistently compelling with a great whiff of Buñuel to it.
Across the pop ‘n’ roll of The Ad Hominem and the pop fray of Overton Window, band and album just accentuate their rich enticements, the first of the pair especially persuasive while Cognitive Dissonance eclipses both with its punk coated misbehaviour again hinting at the seventies and the antics of bands like O‘Level and Teenage Filmstars.
The following Baby’s Got Cold Feet casts a minefield of shuddering beats as a groove woven bassline strolls with grumbling dexterity within the melodic flourish of keys. Like a scowling tango built on the attributes of Pigbag and Swell Maps, the song hits the spot with increasing addictiveness though it is soon eclipsed by the caustic Art Attacks meets mclusky tango of Play the Harp, Throw the Spear. It is a rabid trespass but with a restraint which only escalates its impact before the album’s title track raises the ante yet again. It too has the scent of numerous decades of rock ‘n’ roll in its uncompromising proposal shaped by the imposing skeletal steel frame set by Josh. Hooks and catchy enterprise erupt across its barbarous stroll, a blend of contrasts just as potent within the pair’s infectious vocal insurgency.
As the tracks we have reveal there is no ‘woe is me’ self-pity fuelling the adventure. Yes, it scratches his open wounds at times and is not always sharing smiles but every moment is an open insight and reflection on his feelings across the evolving year of those challenges and the life around Dermot in St. Albans with plenty of knowing black humour involved along the way.
Date Night reveals a tango loaded with a rhythmic incitement which barely stays in the same place more than a second or two, its beats on hot coals but with a composure which aligns perfectly with the monotone growl of the bass. As guitars saunter and blaze, Talbot magnetically assaults with word and character, the volatile squall of the track then emulated in its own way by Faith In the City and its post punk ‘n’ roll causticity. A rousing irritant exposing essences hinting at bands such as again Artery and The Nightingales, submission to its lively acerbic inducement is quick and just as rapid as next up 1049 Gotho waltzes with irritated intent and pounding beats into ears and psyche. For all it and the other song’s choleric probing and inventive dexterity, sonic squeals a delight, there is a melodic lining which as subtle as it might be at times just inflames the catchiness and adventure of all escapades.
