UK trio Archie Bronson Outfit are a lesser known name on the impressive Domino records roster but Wild Crush is their fourth album for the label. With a release every four years you’d be forgiven for thinking that they are in no rush to impose themselves but the music suggests otherwise.
The serenely titled opener “Two Doves on a Lake” is anything but serene, beginning with an instantly infectious guitar riff awash with psychedelic fuzz. Sam Windett‘s vocals have a subtle effect applied on them throughout it which both unsettles and beguiles, pushing the song towards its hypnotic, motorik finale.
Letting the listener settle is clearly not on the agenda with a lot of ideas packed into each song and an unexpected brass burst or guitar solo will take the song away from the predictable. Even the single ‘We are floating’ defies commercialism with the vocals sounding like Win Butler with the frenetic edge of David Byrne.
There is an eventual calm in the mid-section with “Love to Pin You Down” and “Lori From the Outer Reaches” relying on organ and sax to dominate instead of guitars. The other-worldly vocals of the latter are given even more of a hazy cosmic jive with the “Five Years” drum pattern (which opens Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust album) running throughout.
The garage rock elements return in the second half of the album and the sixties nod extends to melody with Velvet Underground’s “I’ll Be Your Mirror” acting as a subliminal focal point in the short, singalong of “Glory, Sweat and Flow”.
With identity and individuality at a premium in a lot of newer guitar bands, Wild Crush is a welcome relief and has plenty to fulfill the soul-psych-garage-space-rock hole you never knew you had.
Archie Bronson Outfit on the web:
http://www.archiebronsonoutfit.com/ | Facebook | Twitter
— Paul Davies
