Listen: Wilder Maker - "Love So Well"

Photo by Annie Del Hierro

Though Brooklyn based indie rockers Wilder Maker released their album Zion last year, ahead of a tour they're releasing a couple holdover tracks from their Zion sessions.

With rambling love song "Love So Well", it's not hard to see why the band held it back. Zion was one of those marvelous albums that managed to create narratives out of the band's New York City experience - and "Love So Well" is a decided break from the fivesome's attempts to navigate city life both real and imagined in favor of the open road. It's beguilingly tender even as it's essentially about that epiphanic moment right before you break up with someone. For Wilder Maker, that moment just so happens to coincide with life on the road. Hardly surprising considering hours behinds the wheel or as a passenger are bound to lead to some introspection. And yet, the most surprising thing about "Love So Well" is how gentle and loving it all is. "I love so well when I am leaving" Katie von Schleicher sings as the song opens but the various ways that a lover's face or laugh are recalled is positively drenched in love.
Wilder Maker are masters of subverted expectactions and their epiphany is lovelorn but resolute and layered in its spectrum of emotion. They may be steadfast in their decision to break uo but that doesn't mean they're not effected by it or seek to strip the love out of it. Wilder Maker toe the line exceptionally well and embrace the complicatedness of the emotion experience with a deft hand and an impressive softness.

"Love So Well" and b-side"Rose Room" are out now. Make sure to catch Wilder Maker out on tour. 

Listen: Gabriel Birnbaum - "Stack The Miles"

Well here is a pleasant surprise.  Although Brooklyn rockers Wilder Maker more or less just released their strongest album to date in Zion, singer/songwriter Gabriel Birnbaum somehow found the time and wherewithal to pursue a solo project. It is perhaps less of a surprise considering I knew he played one or two solo sets within the past year but not being present at those, I figured the sets consisted of stripped down Wilder Maker songs, song experiments and the like. Instead Birnbaum was playing actual songs he'd written and recorded, forming an entirely different band to record them even though he while premiering the song solo.

"Stack The Miles" is the first taste of Birnbaum's self-titled solo project and an album that'll be out in the new year. With Wilder Maker, Birnbaum already established himself as lyricist uniquely capable of wringing tension and a sense of drama from the mundane through longform narratives and shorter, more pop-oriented affairs, so "Stack The Miles" seems like a victory lap of sorts from the sort of elevated New York City narratives that comprised Zion, beginning with a pulse-quickening guitar riff Birnbaum's natural booming baritone is subdued, his lyrics a captivating mix of distinctly detailed lines and brooding impressionist watercolors. "Stack The Miles" is a song of interesting juxtapositions - a pervasive sense of quiet even as Birnbaum enlists Wilder Maker/Sam Evian's Adam Brisbin on bass, guitarist Will Graefe, and drummer/percussionist Jason Nazary to ensure the song is stacked with a multitude of sounds. The constant strum of a guitar gives the track a sense of perpetual motion even as it moves with both a casual lilt and the artful precision of a migrating flock of birds.

Narratively speaking, Birnbaum's still addressing themes of loneliness and beleagueredness but the venue's changed. Where Birnbaum filtered that into city life and instead it's the outskirts - towns, highways, and byways, that can swallow you up just as easily as the bustling city.  "Stack The Miles" is essentially a tour song but one where the road is a strange comfort but is too much unlike normal life that it's also cause for suspicion. It's a remarkably different take on the subject - artists usually longing for home for it's sense of stability whereas Birnbaum prefers home due to the balance of expectations. It's a bit cynical but also beautiful as Birnbaum sings "Too many miracles here and I can't no more of the good times I am done".

Listen to "Stack The Miles", the first single from Gabriel Birnbaum's forthcoming solo album:

Listen/Watch: Wilder Maker - "Drunk Driver"

photo by Chris Weiss

Earlier this year when Brooklyn based rockers Wilder Maker announced their third full length album Zion with the rambunctious first single "Closer To God", I was pleasantly surprised at the return to form of sorts from singer/songwriter Gabriel Birnbaum and co. after their "New Streets"/"Only Child" 7" they released last year. While Wilder Maker can hardly be considered a particularly rowdy bunch, their songs generally are delivered with a touch more grit than the marvelously sun-kissed jam of the non-album single. "New Streets" arrived not only with a delightful sense of ease but also highlighted how great the band are at crafting scenic narrative with a definite pop sensibility. With "Closer To God" however, the band turned their sights toward encapsulating not just the city they all call home with its various bevy of easily pursued vices but also to the slow burning place-setting narrative structure that defined much of their earlier career as disciples of longform pop songcraft with the twist being an ability to condense the longform aspect without losing any of their storytelling capability.

"Drunk Driver", the second single from the band's upcoming album, shifts the energy away from the turbulence of "Closer To God" towards something a bit more introspective. Lead by Katie Von Schleicher, "Drunk Driver" is a testament to narrative restraint. With a title like "Drunk Driver", the listener immediately conjures all sort of expectations of what the song will be, where it'll go and the band subvert them effortlessly. "Drunk Driver" starts as a trickle - Gabriel Birnbaum's guitar and Von Schleicher's keys delicately setting the scene before the vocals even enter. Von Schleicher does a great deal of foreshadowing from the jump: "Those who rise on handouts sit on paper thrones//It just takes on lit match instead of time to fuck 'em in their hearts". They're delivered with a casualness that belies their ominous nature as Von Schleicher coasts from moment to moment and lessens the tension by virtue of not speeding to the point. Like a guessing game with too many rounds, the secret seems less imperative the longer it's not just freely given.

And then excellent songsmiths that they are, there's a colossal shift in energy like a damn breaking and Von Schleicher's words come as the deluge. Her detailed descriptions of the city take on less of a sense of wonder with more of a distraught agitation and beleaguered weariness and then it comes - slight and subtle enough that you almost miss it: "I loved her with no thought for me as reckless as a drunk driver exhales and turns the key". Wilder Maker manage to subvert expectations so resolutely and masterfully while still delivering an exceptionally engaging song. Smaller details and moments like Von Schleicher's pained "Oh God" and the group's repetitive "And the band plays on" building tension before the band just let's it all go.



Zion, the third full length album from Wilder Maker, is out July 13th on Northern Spy Records and is available for pre-order now.

Listen: Katie von Schleicher - "Glad To Be Here"

photo by M Cooper

Despite her Wilder Maker bandmate Gabriel Birnbaum's numerous attempts to rectify it, I was largely unaware that Katie von Schleicher was making her own delightful brand of pop for much of the time I've been covering Wilder Maker. While Birnbaum's assurances were enough to get her on my incredibly daunting musical to-do list, it wasn't until I saw her live last year that I finally got around to listening to her self-titled solo project. "Glad To Be Here" is her first single since last year's Shitty Hits and finds her in an in-between moments between records. Written on a writing retreat in her native Maryland, "Glad to Be Here" is a crackling, drum-heavy track featuring von Schleicher's trademark embrace of insecurity and vulnerability.  "Glad To Be Here" gives us an inner glimpse of a moment of emotional freefall delivered with an understated calm. For all of the emotiveness of her cooing vocals, "Glad To Be Here" is startling cerebral. It's an encapsulation of the various ways your mind contorts to make sense out of things when faced with an unexpected outcome. And yet, von Schleicher handles them with an almost inhuman grace. She shoves aside her burning questions in lieu of keeping an amiable air. "I shook when you said: 'the words were a mistake.', you didn't want to stand by them anymore, didn't it feel wrong?" von Schleicher sings and it's the first instance she gives between the tug of war between her head and her heart. It's subtle but electric as von Schleicher's internal and external actions go from being wholly out of sync to meeting somewhere in the middle that makes the song's final lyrics: "If there's nothing wrong, I'm glad to be here" all the more resonant. von Schleicher's songwriting has always striven to offer the positive that comes from the negative and "Glad To Be Here" is no exception turning a tense moment of internal conflict into a touching celebration of humanity.



Katie von Schleicher's "Glad To Be Here" 7" is out May 4th on UK label Full Time Hobby. You can pre-order it here.

Listen: Wilder Maker - "Closer To God"

photo by Keegan Grandbois

When Brooklyn rock pop outfit Wilder Maker released their excellent "New Streets" 7" early last year, I was thrilled by the prospect of new music from them. Though they had maintained consistent released in the form of their Everyday Crimes Against Objects of Desire which they released in three separate parts, when you come across a band as good as Wilder Maker, every release just makes you all the more eager for more and Gabriel Birnbaum and co. don't like to disappoint. While my real initiation to Wilder Maker's music came in the form of their particular excellent brand of longform songwriter, they've since established that they're equally capable at writing shorter, catchier numbers rooted in a pop element without sacrificing neither their experimental edge nor their mischievous gleam in their eyes.

"Closer To God", the first single from Wilder Maker upcoming third full length album Zion, finds the band trading the breezy, nonabrasive stylings of "New Streets" for a much more ramshackle number. Despite its name and its casual grooves, "Closer to God" is probably Wilder Maker at its more rugged as its subject embraces the chaos of city living pretty much with a debaucherous descent into the city's bevy of easily attainable vices. Birnbaum and Katie von Schleicher's oft-repeated chorus "Closer to God, everyday I get closer to God" achieves the sort of tongue-in-cheek irony of that one friend who always swears they're moving out of the city but never really goes anywhere. Despite highlighting its various faults, "Closer To God" functions as a sort of love letter to city living, as each of its universal and multitudinous assaults is delivered with its own sort of reverence. You're willing to suffer for the things you love, and Wilder Maker essentially grant the protagonist of "Closer to God", a pious allegiance to the city and its frenetic energy not unlike Ancient Greece's worshipers of Bacchus. 



Zion, the third full length record from Wilder Maker, out is July 13th on Northern Spy Records. You can pre-order the album now.

Listen: Wilder Maker - "New Streets"

Well we've certainly been out of the loop. Since Brooklyn's Wilder Maker's brilliant sophomore effort Year of Endless Light, they've gone on to release three (three!) EPs in the following two years. While the EPs were certainly good enough not to escape my notice I still managed to completely miss covering them. "New Streets", the second in Saddle Creek Record's ongoing Document series, is the first taste of new music from the band since the third and final volume of Everyday Crimes Against Objects of Desire dropped at the tail end of 2015. Though the band has certainly kept busy since then with shows and other projects there's no denying a sense of refreshing ease in "New Streets".

Part of the feeling lies in shelving singer/songwriter Gabriel Birnbaum's rumbling baritone in favor of Katie Von Schleicher's softer vocals. It's a change up that's not totally unheard of for the band but one that's deployed rarely enough that it's still an ear-catching treat. Another is the sense of new, bright beginnings the song invokes with its upbeat arrangements especially given the languorous heartbreak jams of Everyday Crimes Against Objects of Desire.

On "New Streets" Wilder Maker are back in their genre-blurring groove combining the best bits of Birnbaum's jazz saxophone roots with a casual trotting rock pop. Where much of Year of Endless Light and Everyday Crimes Against Objects of Desire fell mostly in Americana territory with it's pedal steel and slide guitar, "New Streets" aims at a broader sound. Though it's shorter than most of Birnbaum's longform ruminations, "New Streets" earns each and every moment of its nearly four minute track length. From its instrumental intro that gives Von Schleicher her initial melody, its a veritable band showcase. Wilder Maker are in top form; catchy but just the right amount of unpredictable as they gradually build and disassemble their various complementary layers. Von Schleicher is a charming lead vocalist and the band provide not only a strong display of talents and potential tonal growth but also one of those wind-in-your-face driving jams quintessential to the summer soundtrack. It's a rather good look for them and one they hopefully have plans to revisit between their more longform efforts.

Listen to Wilder Maker's new single "New Streets". Digital singles are available now while physical 7"s ship around June 1st. You can order/pre-order here.

Listen: Wilder Maker - "Hope Springs"

When I was introduced to the work of Gabriel Birnbaum and his compatriots in Wilder Maker's Year of Endless Light I was instantly taken not only by the ability to create brilliant, engaging longform compositions but also the way their musicians talents playing other styles of music managed to color what could easily be a simply folk rock endeavor. It spoke volumes not only of each individual's musicianship but also Birnbaum's innovative songwriting ideas.

"Hope Springs", a taste from Wilder Maker's recently released four song Everyday Crimes Against Objects of Desire Vol. 1 sees Birnbaum tackling Americana with aid from a much less robust but equally talented arsenal of musicians than Year of Endless Light that form Wilder Maker's core. Sharing vocals with Katie Von Schleicher, Birnbaum manages to spin gold from the age-old tale of breakup-induced introspection. Despite it's shorter length, "Hope Springs" is equally as intricately well-traversed as any of Wilder Maker's longer cuts - in fact it's seems to stretch on far longer than its rather radio-friendly running time would lead you to expect. While "Hope Springs" manages to follow folk pop songwriting conventions, Birnbaum still manages to subvert them a bit as is his way while offering up some gold star lyricism like the "hope springs with your back against the wall" from which the track gains its name.

While "Hope Springs" doesn't offer up nearly the display of technical prowess that "Song for the Singer" or Year of Endless Light did as a whole, there's no denying the band are just as cohesive as ever offering understated musical moments in lieu of solos and instrumental interludes. Birnbaum and Von Schleicher's vocals are wonderfully complimentary driving home much of the track's emotive power during the duet choruses.



Wilder Maker's Everyday Crimes Against Objects of Desire Vol. 1 is out now. You can stream/download via their Bandcamp here.

Listen: Wilder Maker - "Song for the Singer"

Introduced to Wilder Maker - the work of Gabriel Birnbaum and friends from his cover of Will Stratton's "The War is Over" on the Will Stratton's benefit album. I was pretty taken with his take so when it was announced that Wilder Maker were releasing a new album - their sophomore record Year of Endless Light, I was completely on board. It's an album of considerable length and complexity. So much so that I've only recently been able to digest it in full.

It's no secret that I'm a lover of longform pop music. If you can stretch a song out longer than 3+ minutes while still maintaining my attention, you're a better songwriter than most in my eyes. Wilder Maker's "Song for the Singer" is a 12 and a half minute sprawl worth each and every minute. Anchored by Birnbaum's smooth baritone, it pairs patient folky narratives with forward-pushing pop convention and rock interludes. That's essentially how Birnbaum and his collaborators go about gathering your vested interest in its subtle creep. It's an tuneful ebb and flow - the melodies memorable and lovingly arranged while there's a significant amount of instrumental breakdowns and solos that you're essentially always hearing something almost entirely new. It's not a cheap grab at your attention or a series of different songs stitched together under one title, "Song for the Singer" is delightfully cohesive, the push and pull utilized to highlight the talents of Wilder Maker's band members while also pushing the narrative forward.

I'm the first person to cry foul if a song is unnecessarily long but that's clearly not the case here. It all gentle rises towards a shout-sung climax which subtly reveals the genre-straddling past of Birnbaum and friends. It's a bit of a time investment but one that ultimately rewards with just how madcap the delivery is. "Song for the Singer" succeeds not only due to Wilder Maker's talents but also its commitment to form. It's a strongly recommended highlight of their sophomore record Year of Endless Light.

Listen to "Song for the Singer"now, listen/buy/download Year of Endless Light here.

If You Wait Long Enough: Songs of Will Stratton (2013)

Last year, singer/songwriter Will Stratton put out his incredibly sprawling masterpiece Post-Empire. It was an album I had nothing but good things to say about since a stray tweet from Knox Road brought Stratton to my attention; it was inarguably a great album that paired Stratton's fingerstyle guitar with elegant string arrangements of his own design and while it was a fully realized album near to my heart, I was excited to get more from the former Brooklyn based singer/songwriter. Then following a successful European tour, Stratton got sick. Really sick. Stratton had stage III cancer. While fortunately Stratton's been able to get better, there are some hefty medical bills on  the horizon as the life of a touring musician doesn't exactly include a health insurance plan. 

Besides being an incredibly gifted songwriter, Will Stratton happens to be a rather cool dude and good friend. Perhaps that's why some of his musician friends recorded a covers albums of Stratton's songs to help raise funds for Stratton. You don't do that for someone unlikable. Enter If You Wait Long Enough: Song of Will Stratton, the benefit covers compilation made by said friends. 12 songs, 12 bands, with the bonus of a Will Stratton live track. 

One of my favorite things about the compilation is the fact that I'm not at all familiar with the bands on it. It might seem weird for your first impression of a band to be formed based on a cover and yet here we are. While about half of the album's tracks are Post-Empire era tracks, the other half happen to be a career-spanning endeavor; Brooklyn trio Jane Eyre's Jesse Rifkin performing the only track from Stratton's debut record What the Night Said.  It's really interesting to see what the band's do with the songs. One of my favorites being the glitchy, dream-pop variation of Alexandra Drewchin and Aaron Roche's "Post-Empire" take. Also of note is the rather dark rumble of Wilder Maker's "The War is Over". 

As far as covers albums are concerned, If You Wait Long Enough: Songs of Will Stratton is a rather enjoyable affair. The covers themselves helping to highlight a lot of Stratton's strengths in his own music-making. The covers are great and that's because the bands had such great material to draw from. It helps that the album isn't just a collection of one-note guitar and voice impressions of Will. Whether you live what they do or not, a lot of the covers use the source material as a base and go their own way with it. It creates a bit of interesting variation like the aforementioned Jesse Rifkin cover of "Katydid" which becomes a dance-pop jam.  The covers aren't just hit-it-and-quit-it kind of enjoyable either. I actually found myself going back to several of them that I really really liked making a mental note to check out that artist/band when all was 

said and done. That's the best thing a covers album can aspire to, right? 

You can purchase If You Wait Long Enough: Songs of Will Stratton on Bandcamp which I strongly recommend because not only is the covers album rather good, it all goes to benefit Will Stratton who is a very very nice guy and clearly an inspiring friend. Do it.