Album Review: Wolfs - Tape

The internet is surprisingly sparse of information on Maryn Jones despite my attempts to discover more about her. As one of the voices of Wolfs and the go-to link from the band’s Facebook, I expected a media storm, but what I found was an internet presence as modest as this six track ‘Tape’.

You see this record is incredibly stripped back, but that takes nothing away from it, it makes it even more beautiful.

The simplicity of tracks like ‘Cold Wet Lawns’ is incredibly gratifying, with a sound that harks to listening to a beautiful voice singing over an old music box, one still spilling beautiful sounds despite how fragile and precious it may seem. And this feeling is spread throughout, there is nothing not to like in the tranquility that is Wolfs’ music, it well and truly takes you to a special place.

‘Leading Me Back To You’ is another lullaby that plucks your heartstrings with every quiet guitar strum, its vocals truly haunting among the limited backdrop, fitting considering a line in the song itself – ‘the sound of my voice still haunts you’, and because I am not an incredibly masculine figure, I’m not afraid to say that this song made me tear up a little.

And I’m sure even the most stubborn meathead would be reduced to that much if they listened to this record, it really is incredibly touching, striking a nerve that I know as a songwriter is incredibly hard to find, and yet Wolfs seem to possess a surgically accurate eye for this nerve, and once they’ve got yours, you’d be hard pushed to not shed a manly tear.

At first I likened this to Imogen Heap’s ‘Hide And Seek’ due to its simplicity and emotional manipulation, but that comparison is not at all fair, because this music is entirely and provocatively original.

Even using the word ambient to describe this wouldn’t quite match, the word I would use, yet again, would be haunting.

That’s the only fitting word I could find that could fit such moving tones, and although I may be at risk of overusing this metaphor, weaving a few simple threads of fine quality into a rich tapestry of sound, one that should be as sought after as that of Bayeux, Normandy.

5/5

Edward Strickson

Wolfs' 'Tape' can be downloaded for free here.