Wilderness Wilderness Jagjaguwar, 2005 amazon

Contrary to popular opinion, i'm all for labeling music. To take the sympathetic viewpoint, it's a necessary evil ... but being really honest i say it's a perfectly legitimate endeavor. Bands don't want to be pigeonholed, but let's be truthful: certain varieties of music tend to sound the same. So it seems fine to me to give that sound a name. One label that i can't quite understand however is "post-punk". It seems this moniker is applied to everything from those bands who really did follow the punk movement (Joy Division, Magazine) to those current groups who are their spiritual descendants (Fugazi, Sonic Youth) to anything a smidge quirkier than the standard alternative fare (Franz Ferdinand, Pavement). That's a lot of ground to cover. And i can't say i quite understand the grouping. However, that's not to say there aren't some brilliant bands in the post-punk lineup. A recent one is Wilderness, a Baltimore four piece who recently released their debut self-titled album. A collection of plodding drum rhythms, to which a wash of reverbed guitar riffs and gray bass lines are applied. On top of the entrancing somber melodies, frontman James Johnson adds chaotic lyrics, with a delivery somewhere between Public Image Ltd.'s John Lydon and Television-era Tom Verlaine. Songs tend to ebb and flow of their own accord, ignoring any conventional verse-chorus-verse structure. It's no easy feat to capture the listener's attention for 45 minutes without a set starting point and destination, but Wilderness accomplishes that and more.

the object is dismay

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