Review Summary: So these two guys walk into a synthesizer...
Bellingham, WA is a good-sized college town known for its beautiful scenery, as well as its ability to throw an occasional rowdy house party. Nestled in the northern corner of Washington State, Bellingham serves as a mixing pot for Americans and Canadians, Liberals and Conservatives, and evidently progressive rock and electronica, a sound that Idiot Pilot has become known for if not far and wide, then at least in their native Bellingham.
Glancing at the band’s myspace, it quickly becomes easy to see what influenced their vast array of sound. While some influences such as Johnny Cash clearly were not taken into account while recording Wolves (Idiot Pilot’s second full-length album), other notables such as Radiohead and The Blood Brothers certainly show relation to Idiot Pilot as some distant cousin. While the comparison of Idiot Pilot to Radiohead is a far reach, the one connection that can be made is the clear, beautiful sound of the vocals that can be found on any Radiohead album, and certainly in Idiot Pilot’s Wolves. Michael Harris’ voice soars in every song to create something truly memorable amidst the sometimes-chaotic sound of guitar, synth, artificial drums, and almost anything else one can download onto their macbook (and if you were wondering, yes, there is a synthetic horns section in one song). Just as their third cousin twice-removed The Blood Brothers, Idiot Pilot is able to turn chaos into a complete sound that never sounds out of order. The two best examples of this are on the tracks “Elephant” and “Planted In The Dark”. Each of these tracks have points of near chaos where all you want to do is swing your arms around in a mosh-pit, but then the chaos will cease, and Harris’ melodic voice will now have you star-gazing while catching your breath.
If you ever bothered to go out and get the soundtrack from the first Transformers flick, you will know the single “Retina and the Sky” from this album. While there really isn’t much in terms of musical creativity or originality in this song, the chorus is extremely catchy and proves that Idiot Pilot could one day turn into Linkin Park and just make some safe, radio-friendly singles and lose all imagination. All sarcasm aside, Idiot Pilot does possess the many times underrated ability to make catchy music that appeal to a vast collection of listeners. In addition to “Retina and the Sky”, the first track on the album “Last Chance” also showcases this trait of “catchiness” and starts off the album in a way that opens the door for many listen with a perfect mix of ambient synth mixes and driving guitar riffs. The best song on the album has to be “Red Museum”. Coming after the very forgettable “Cruel World Enterprise”, this track gives a blast of energy just when the album seems to be losing steam. Daniel Anderson’s screaming is not overly impressive, but it fits the song and does not sound overly produced. The bridge of “Red Museum” is the high point of Wolves. A catchy guitar riff on its own blasts into an explosion of sound with Harris’ voice soaring above and Anderson’s scream of RED SKYYYYYYY cutting through everything. It gets me all pumped and ***.
Where Wolves sometimes does fail is when it lulls itself into a couple-minute sleep with the songs “Cruel World Enterprise” and “Theme From a Pit”. Instead of slowing down to make a sound that is uniquely beautiful, which they do in the last track “Recurring Dream”, the boys of Idiot Pilot waste these songs with little going on instrumentally (even with the synth), and nothing of notice going on vocally. Luckily, the tracks following each of these songs bring the album back to life with energy that only a mix of progressive rock and electronica can bring and end up being the best of the album.
In the end, it is easy to recommend Wolves because there is something for almost anyone to enjoy on this album (sorry Brokencyde fans, this isn’t for you). From catchy guitar riffs and choruses, to ambient synth creations and what can only be called electronica-breakdowns, much is to be enjoyed on this album with a very small amount to be forgotten. At the very least, Idiot Pilot’s sound can not specifically be compared to another band, which in itself is becoming a huge compliment nowadays.
Recommend Tracks:
Last Chance
Elephant
Red Museum
Planted in the Dark
Recurring Dream
