Wilderness - Wilderness (2005)

Genre- Indie Rock, Post-Rock

Wilderness are from the Baltimore, Maryland area. They record on the Jagjaguwar label. This is Wilderness’ debut release and it is a good one. Before I talk about how great the music is I must address the vocals on the album. James Johnson really doesn’t sing. He more or less sounds like an announcer. It reminds me of early David Byrne or even at times like Les Claypool’s sing/speak structure. Lyrically Johnson focuses on the abstract and political, which causes you to focus less on his singing and more on his words. This is a good thing because James Johnson cannot sing very well. Around the midway point of the album you are hoping Johnson will stop singing and let this be an instrumental album. Musically, the album is fantastic. It features heavy percussion, crashing cymbals, dynamic bass lines and soaring spaced out guitars. It perfectly blends harmony among the chaos they create. This album is on the heavy side of the burned out Post-Rock movement. Needless to say, this recording is far more challenging and dynamic than The Killers or Interpol, who currently dominate the genre. Perhaps this reflects a shift in the movement. Maybe the New Wave infused sounds of the other 1000 bands that sound like The Killers are shifting more toward the Rock side of the movement. I certainly hope so. If it weren’t for the distracting vocals I could probably rate this album a 9/10, but because of the vocals I must give it a 7/10. The best songs are End of Freedom and Say You Can See.

Rating- 7/10