ARTIST:
WILD FLAG


ALBUM:
WILD FLAG


KEY TRACKS:  
ROMANCE
BOOM
SOMETHING CAME OVER ME
SHORT VERSION


"we dance to free ourselves from the room"
Thank GOD!!  As much as I love my gentlemen singer/songwriters: Beirut, Sufjan Stevens, Andrew Bird, etc. there is always a soft spot in my heart for those few crazy bitches who know how to throw it down.  WILD FLAG is just that.  This album is a sprint from the beginning and doesn't stop or slow down.


Interestingly, WILD FLAG isn't really a new band.  They're more of a collaboration of a four seasoned musicians from previous bands.  Let me tell you this pedigree is excellent:  Sleater-Kinney, Helium, Quasi, and The Minders just to name a few.  And much like the album artwork WILD FLAG is an interesting juxtaposition of musical talent that comprise something even more interesting than the pieces.  


So what does this supergroup sound like?  Well, if I was in a band this is what I'd want to sound like.     


Romance, is the hands down, bar none triumph of this album.  It's a momentous track full of spritely guitar riffs and pounding drums.  Notably the lyrics are something I really connected to here:

"Hey, hey, can you feel it? 

The way it sways you, The hum in your chest?

You make my feet move, you turn my head loose 

   That's why I love you the best"

That's what romance does.  It makes you crazy.  But more notably, and personal for me, is the aggression present here:

"Hands down we like, we like what we like

Hands down we like, we love, we choose you"

and 

"You watch us dance, we dance 'til we're dying

We dance to free ourselves from the room

We love the sound, the sound is what found us

Sound is the blood between me and you"

I'm a pretty straight forward girl and not one to sucker up to pining love songs.  This is my kind of love song.  If you want something (or someone) then get it.    

The lyric about dancing always cracks me up because anyone who's [had the misfortune of] seen me dance knows that I'm definitely disconnected from what's going on.  Music, whether at a concert, singing along in my car, dancing alone in my room or out with friends really is a freeing experience for me.  And as a listener, when a great track is on you do sometimes lose that abstract concept of reality.  ...Also the video is great and is pretty much what my friends and I would do on lunch break....

Next, Something Came Over Me has one of my favorite guitar riffs of 2011.  It's that minuscule pause between the chord changes that really gets me.  Boom is another colossal track with a chorus:  "one, two, three, four, I like the way you move across the floor that will linger in your hear for hours on end.  It's still in mind now.

Short Version is another wild romp of a track.  The fret work on the bridge (1:50) is a particular high point of the album.  Lastly, Racehorse lives up to its name. And clocking in at over 6 minutes it's more of a marathon.  In my book WILD FLAG has earned a hell of a lot more time than 6 minutes to send the listener off but it's still pretty damn great.  Again, if I was in a band, this is what I'd want to sound like.    

That being said, anyone want to start a band?

LISTEN:  ROMANCE  |  BOOM  |  SOMETHING CAME OVER ME  |  SHORT VERSION 

NEXT WEEK:  BATTLES  |  GLOSS DROP