Review Summary: Finally, Uptown Siege Valley III (bottom text).
Rest in peace, Tim Feerick.
Although his last body of work was technically last summer's, mildly put,
problematic album release that shan't be mentioned, it's comforting to know that his legacy has received a second wind in the form of this year's excellent
Bloodletter, courtesy of Californian post-hardcore sextet Wolf & Bear. Let's go ahead and address the big elephant in the room, though: Wolf & Bear is eerily similar to what can best be described as its up-to-no-good-cousin Dance Gavin Dance. Co-frontman Marcus Cisneros belts out croons that flirt heavily with some of the more memorable vocal melodies sung by Jonny Craig many moons ago and screaming hype-man Tyler Watt's high-pitched shrills sound
perfectly wedged between pre-Lyme-disease-era and current day Jon Mess. Even better,
Bloodletter sounds like it picks up almost exactly where
Downtown Battle Mountain II left off more than a decade ago (check out the nod to "Thug City" in the opening to "BONSAI B." and you'll know what I mean). The songs presented here ebb and flow with little consideration for typical pop song structures and are delivered with a level of pizzazz and swagger that has sorely been missing from the last three DGD records. "CHAD B. KANG" is a sub three minute groovedown with cascading leads and a double-bass attack that lets Tim Feerick sling some of his tastiest bass guitar chops of his career. Elsewhere, "POOFY" sounds like something that fell straight out of
Grow-era CHON, with cuddly cute guitar plucking that paint a picturesque soundscape for Marcus to gently lay down his infectious hooks.
Most of
Bloodletter is fairly par for the course "Swancore" but the execution feels more earnest and invigorating than a vast majority of its contemporaries. At 12 tracks and 39 minutes, it breezes by effortlessly with little to no unnecessary fluff or dead air to waste your time. The guitar work of Louie Baltazar and Cameron Nunez is equal parts technical and funky while sounding just fresh enough to avoid being labelled as derivative noodling. Single "QUICK SIP 84" is by far the grooviest offering on display with Tim and drummer Jacob Koval interlocking a tasteful paradiddle groove in the bridge section, preceded by an irresistible
"I'm not the one who's running" vocal melody courtesy of Marcus. Again, nothing here is earth-shatteringly original or forward thinking but the endless, high energy momentum and sharp-as-nails songwriting triumphantly manages to sustain one's interest throughout its brisk runtime. Wolf & Bear might not be setting a new bar within its niche brand of post-hardcore but they've sure as hell cleared it with a level of panache that many of their peers have been unsuccessfully doing for years on end now. This is the true send-off release that Tim Feerick deserved. Thank you for the music.
