If you watch Nirvana’s ‘Live, tonight, sold out!’ video then you’ll see footage of Kurt Cobain saying something to the effect that it doesn’t matter how you play providing you play with passion and spirit – a philosophy that could apply to any number of underground acts who concentrate on creating their own unique take on rock and roll rather than auto-tuning the life out of their compositions. Take Pavement as an example – could they really have been so fascinatingly quirky if they’d gone in to the studio with an unlimited budget and Pro-tools? Wounded Lion belong in the same realm as Pavement as they play quirky, distorted pop-rock which makes up for the absence of perfect pitch with an endearing and original take on mid-90s alterna-pop where feedback and distorted guitars reign supreme and where the message is more important than the delivery.
A relatively short listen the album centres around the flash-in-the-pan genius of ‘Carol Cloud’ which packs more ideas into its subversive two and a half minutes than the average top 40 suspect will contemplate in an eternity of soulless hit-making. But that’s jumping the gun. To begin at the beginning, Wounded Lion opens with ‘Hungry?’ which sounds like the late, lamented Mclusky but with the raging guitars turned down to an indie rumble. ‘Creatures in the cave’ is a more Sebadoh-esque affair with whimsical lyrics colliding with oddly-detuned guitars recalling the finer moments of Lou Barlow. The Star Wars referencing ‘Degobah system’ is equally replete with alt-rock reference points, most notably the Meat Puppets whose brief showcase on Nirvana’s unplugged never really did do the weirdness of their studio output justice (check out ‘Hercules’ for evidence of quite how odd they could be!). ‘Hunan province’ follows in the footsteps of Urusai Yatsura (remember them?) but again focusing on a more indie than all-out Punk approach which leads us back to the mighty Carol Cloud which is a giant track riddled with feedback and overloaded guitars and which blows the roof of this previously sedate collection of tunes.
‘Hanging ancient circles’ has a funky groove to it while ‘belt of Orion’ feels like it’s been sucked out of the sixties by some weird, weed-induced vortex and relocated on this album by malevolent forces of the cosmos. It’s a great track which wouldn’t sound out of place on The Velvet Underground’s vastly under-rated ‘Loaded’ album. ‘Pony people’ is another crunchy track with the spooky sound of a Hammond organ lurking in the background just to keep that sixties connection (or Pearl Jam circa ‘Binaural’) while ‘Black Sox’ is a straight up rock track (well relatively straight up anyway) that brings to mind the early sounds of Sonic Youth as much as anything else. ‘Silver people’ has a suitably grinding bass riff but is essentially a slacker anthem speaking to the terminally disaffected “Young people, out in the streets, speaking their mind” over a sub-punk backdrop of minimal drums and clattering guitar. ‘Omar walk’ on the other hand turns the guitars up to eleven and adds spacey effects that make them sound like buzz-saws chewing into your brain to the sound of The Doors. Final track ‘Crunchy Stars’ closes the album on a kind of Sonic Youth ballad that is as lop-sided as it is touching.
Wounded Lion will probably alienate as many people as they impress. Their lo-fi production and atonal qualities have that Marmite feel that people will either love or loathe. For those raised on sixties rock and pop or who grew up with the mid nineties lo-fi sounds of Sebadoh, Folk implosion, Pavement and the like this is manna from heaven, reminding you of all those wonderful bands but with WL’s own unique twist. For those who prefer their rock to be loud, aggressive and straight forward this is liable to induce spluttering fits of rage or cynical laughter: that’s too bad because Wounded Lion are great – taking the spirit of Sonic Youth and clothing it in some classic pop clothing. Recommended, then, for the indie and experimentally minded of you – well worth tracking down.
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