Slightly over a month ago, a Patrick Wolf Myspace bulletin touting a new controversial video was circulated among Wolf’s social networking fans. As Wolf’s S&M profile picture foreshadowed, this video was going to be sexually explicit in nature.
What the profile picture did not reveal was that the song it was promoting, “Vulture,” would be such a letdown musically. Although, what with all the leather thonged pastiness of Torture Wolf, as well as his other role in the video as a platinum blonde Morrissey and also what appears to be a terribly belated screen test for Lord of the Rings, it’s difficult to even really focus on the song. "Vulture" is a jarring little tune about having sex with Satanists and sounds a bit like a less bratty, more forced version of “Sex Dwarf.” And I will say right now, Marc Almond was alluring for all of one point five minutes, and still, I’d rather he pour all his suggestiveness into that “It’s a…hard..less-sun…lesson leaaaarned” line whilst prancing about in a leather codpiece than young, pasty Patrick Wolf here.
Still, I tried to give the song some slack. Maybe, in the context of Wolf’s forthcoming album, The Bachelor, the song would seem more at home. Well was I ever wrong. Taken with the rest of the album, it’s just one of many moments of wasted potential.
Whatever criticisms one may have about Wolf’s previous effort, The Magic Position, taken as a whole the songs flowed together perfectly. The Bachelor has a definite connecting thread, yet it’s harder to follow as, musically, the songs don’t cohere as well. Listeners who are reluctant to pay attention to the lyrics on the first few listens may feel like Wolf has just presented them with a bunch of ballads that have been produced to hell, interspersed with some really jarring electro shit to keep them on their toes.
Even those of us who are adept at picking up on lyrics in songs and concepts in albums, after deciphering the words to some of these, we may be cozying up to regret. Earnestness does have its place, but sincerity can easily turn soppy in the wrong hands. If Wolf had exercised some restraint, songs like "Blackdown" and “The Sun is Often Out” could have been very emphatic, but the lyrics are so self-pitying, then schmaltzy, all I can picture is Wolf’s protagonist crying sissy tears of glitter into a very reflective lake.
Another area where Wolf could do with exercising restraint is in the amount of strings needed for any particular song. This album is glutted with them, and in the process the songs suffer. When Wolf lays off the strings a bit, the music careens into video game soundtrack territory, but for the most part this move works. “Oblivion” is arguably one of his best songs, on this or any of his other three releases. When Tilda Swinton--who appears throughout the album as a voice of reason or something--comes in, she runs the risk of sounding like a fairy guide presenting Wolf’s protagonist with a series of challenges. But somehow, perhaps thank to Wolf’s deft vocals, the song comes out a winner. “Count of Casualty” makes one wonder if Wolf is playing Tetris with Of Montreal circa Sunlandic Twins, but again, the song turns out to be poignant and not ridiculous. Likewise, the yearn and burn of “Who Will” works until it reaches its big sweeping power outro, complete with gratuitous choir that keeps popping up throughout the record with no invitation.
That choir, as well as those pesky strings, ruins “Damaris,” which, would the production have been played down, had potential to blast a listener’s heart into a billion specks. But no, Wolf had to bring in an avalanche of strings, a drum machine set to “melodrama,” and an indie choir bigger than Polyphonic Spree plus their extended family. Shit! I just can’t help imagining how beautiful and devastating this song would have been, had it consisted solely of one string instrument, a piano, and Wolf’s rich, capable voice. That he went the grandiose way just makes me want to break something; that weird, triangular thing behind Wolf on the album cover would do. It might make the thing look a little less busy.
Level of Disappointment: 8; if he would have toned down the fruity lovechild of Kate Bush and Scott Walker sound, he would have really had something here.
Watch: "The Libertine" (from Wind in the Wires). This is what Patrick Wolf is capable of when he practices a little self-control.
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This has actually made me long to hear the album now! Over production and strings? Yes please! Of course we'll see AFTER I hear it. Plus you'll have to patent "fruity lovechild of Kate Bush and Scott Walker" because I feel compelled to find a reason to use that someday.
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