By:
Ernesto Aguilar
Album Type: EP
Date Released: 06/08/2017
Label: Cruel Nature Records
Taken in together, you have a smoothed out jam band-esque stoner rock experience, and it is a good one.
"Problem Rock" CS//DD track listing
1.
Export To Disk
2.
Filth
3.
Ting
The Review:
Beguiling,
as it is perplexing, Lovely Wife drop a new
three-song EP for your listening pleasure. And it is a really nice one, but it
is not without a few questions.
This
is the follow up to the group's three-song debut EP, "Lou Reed is Dead." That package was mostly a post-rock affair
that clocked in at just under half an hour. It flew under the radar for many,
but came across as promising.
The
new release features virtually a complete change in band members and another trio
of psychedelic infused heavy rock. It feels a bit unpolished and even rough at
points, though it is likely a production touch. Taken in together, you have a
smoothed out jam band-esque stoner rock experience, and it is a good one.
Lovely Wife's challenge is
finding that right mix of personnel. It is a difficulty faced by a ton of new
groups: you think you have the right mix of people until it isn't, and even
when you do, musical chemistry takes time.
Although
the lineup is about wholly different from its debut, even "Problem Rock" has rotating members
throughout the record. Joe Garrick is the only consistent player here. The
sprawling, 13-minute centerpiece "Export
to Disk" features Garrick with drummer Rob Woodcock (who returns from
his appearance on the title track of "Lou
Reed is Dead") and guitarist Jon O'Neill. On the other two tracks, the
lineups flip completely, with Garrick joining vocalist James Watts and drummer Skylar
Gill.
With
Garrick presumably the leader of the band, you have a talented bassist. "Problem Rock" makes his skill
evident. Still, you might be inclined to wonder how much Lovely Wife
will get even better as it matures, nails its core membership and grows into
tighter material.
"Problem
Rock”
is available here
