Coming four years after the streamlined, roughly danceable sound of 2010's
Coconut,
Archie Bronson Outfit's fourth album
Wild Crush returns to the tougher, more unhinged sound of their early work. Down one member (bassist Dorian Hobday) and with the assistance of keyboardist/producer
Capitol K (but without the production wizardry of ex-DFA member Tim Goldsworthy, who worked on
Coconut), the band's retrenching doesn't represent a retreat as much as it does a reinvigoration, and the brilliant combination of their ferociously noisy side with their restrained, almost sensitive side. On about half the record, beginning with the rampaging psych-punk volley "Two Doves on a Lake," and then throughout,
the Outfit play like they're holding on tight with both hands as a storm rages all around them. Arp Cleveland's drums are pounding forces of nature, Sam Windett's vocals are reliably torn from the ragged edges of his throat, and his guitar howls and clangs like out-of-synch machinery. Add in
Duke Garwood's shrieking saxophones and haunted flutes and the band's no-nonsense self-production, and they've hit upon a sound that basically leaps out of the speakers and gets a death grip on your heart and mind right away. Tracks like "We Are Floating" and "Cluster Up and Hover" are the best kind of rollicking, overloaded rock & roll, while "Hunch Your Body, Love Somebody" has a
Stooges-like animal attack. Balancing these feral blasts of unfettered emotion and feverish power are the tracks that pull back a little and dial down the noise in favor of a restrained, more melodic approach that helps give the album some variety. And they show that
the Outfit aren't just wild-eyed maniacs, that they are capable of tender ballads like the aching "Country Miles" and the Southern soul-influenced "Love to Pin You Down." "Glory, Sweat, and Flow" even sounds like it could be a radio hit, with its lilting melody that's half-cribbed from
the Velvet Underground's "I'll Be Your Mirror." By combining the two divergent streams of the previous albums and synthesizing them into an even more powerful beast, the group has managed to deliver its most interesting, most accomplished work to date.
Wild Crush is the point where
Archie Bronson Outfit move from being a good band to becoming a truly great band. ~ Tim Sendra