Patrick Wolf

January 15, 2007

Patrick Wolf’s new album leads me to wonder why haven’t I heard about this guy until now. His music is dark and enchanting but also very emotional and at times, beautiful. The instrumentation on the album is nothing short of brilliance, most of the songs start with a violin and then add a number of natural and unnatural sounds that work perfectly to create the happy/sad environment of the album.

Although every song I’ve heard hits me in a different way, two standouts are the title track, Magic Position, and the upcoming single, Bluebells. Magic Position seems to stand apart from the rest of the album with an opening chant and tempo that sounds like the beginning of a Go! Team song that leads into a joyous and almost twee sounding bells and violin. The song continues to bounce along and becomes an inspirational and uplifting song that encourages you “to live, to learn, to love in the major key.” Easily one of the best songs I’ve heard so far this year, and will probably stay that way for a while.

Bluebells is more typical Patrick Wolf affair with passionate vocals over dark instrumentation that creeps into your ear and won’t escape. The end of this song is really amazing featuring a piano part played over something that sounds like fireworks going off and a tribal drum beat.

MP3 The Magic Position
MP3 Bluebells

Pre-order The Magic Position

Posted by Taylor in Artist Spotlight