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Music Picks
Music

How Sea Wolf Stands Apart from the Pack

With haunting, unsentimental folk-pop.

Christine Choquette 29 May 2008TheTyee.ca

Christine Choquette is a Vancouver-based writer, and a member of indie band Onward Voyageur.
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No snap, snarl or menace here.

In the world of music, there is no fear of lupines becoming endangered species; wolves abound. There's Wolf Parade, Wolfmother, We are Wolves, Patrick Wolf and Wolf Eyes, to name but a few.

Sea Wolf, the offspring of L.A.-based singer/songwriter, Alex Brown Church, formerly of Irving, stands solidly out from the pack. His is not your typical wolf; there is no snarl, snap and menace here. Church crafts clever songs filled with dark grey overtones of brooding and bourbon-soaked melancholy.

Last summer, I fell in love with the Sea Wolf EP, Get to the River Before It Runs too Low (Dangerbird Records, 2007), and eagerly awaited their full-length autumnal release. Leaves in the River (Universal, 2007) did not let me down (although I was disappointed that "Ses Monuments" never graduated off the EP).

Heart-tuggers "Garden that You Planted" and title track, "Leaves in the River," may sound simple, but their sparse arrangements subtly lend themselves to the lyrics, and showcase Church's haunting vocals. Such is also the case with my personal favourite, "The Cold, The Dark, and The Silence," which highlights Church's gift for writing heartbreak lyrics without being overly sentimental. "Middle Distance Runner," almost folk-pop, simmers along temperately, while "You're a Wolf" is hooky anthem perfection. Church professes to being well travelled, and although I doubt he's ever been there, "Winter Windows" smacks of Maritime to me with its accordion, aching strings and salt-water imagery.

In a sea of wolves, this is one wolf Little Ms. Hood would decidedly embrace.

Sea Wolf plays at Vancouver's Media Club on June 12 and Victoria's Lucky Bar on June 13, 2008. [Tyee]

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