ALL THINGS UNCONSIDERED
Dream Wulf sounds like moonlight shattering on dark trees, like a lonesome road slithering between jagged mountain peaks.
Powerful and mesmerizing, this quartet channels darkness and desire into their unique brand of psychedelic grunge.
Based out of Portland OR, Dream Wulf is a dynamic group of musicians comprised of Glenn Walters (percussion), Kyla Maunakea (bass), John Villadelgado (guitar and vocals) and Jessica Bahl (vocals and guitar). Their brand new double release, All Things Considered, hits like slow thunder and captures the listener with pure sonic voodoo. Fuzzy overdriven guitars smolder and sweat while Bahl’s pure, soaring voice shears through crashing drums and churning bass like a valkyrie before a storm. From the instant the record started, I was transfixed.
Rose Painted Dying sets a sparse scene, Bahl singing dreamcatcher shapes over a lonely bassline. Suddenly, like a pack of wolves melting from the darkness, the band piles onto a driving riff with sudden and sinister resolve. Initially reminiscent of Chelsea Wolfe and later The Black Angels, this track enveloped me, enraptured me, enslaved me.
The Darkness features Villadelgado on vocals, a smokey guitar solo tearing a jagged zipper through which his urgent voice warns of the terrors of the night. Guitar and bass mingle in a deliciously sludgy morass before an evil sounding tremolo snakes free and off into the foreboding dark.
Last Known Purple hits harder - Black Sabbath and Jimi Hendrix both evoked in the smoke streaming off this track’s slamming central riff. Bahl’s voice grasps through space for the object of her desire - sensuous, ominous, unbridled in its yearning. It reaches dangerous heights before spiraling down in a helix of burnt emotion.
Blue Dream, the premiere single from the double EP, has an awesome music video you should absolutely treat yourself to. Watch it below.
We won’t spoil the entire release for you - it’s something you need to let wrap around your head, sink into your hair, put its smoky fingers down your back and shock you awake with electric moonlight and cold wind through dark fur.
As I write this, Dream Wulf is playing their release show in Portland - you would be do well to make sure and catch them live if you can. Stream All Things Unconsidered in the meantime - if you’re anything like me, you won’t stop after one listen.
♥ Zach
