The Ethereal Daydream of Wolf Club’s Chasing the Storm

Details: By Loron Hays; 18 June 2018

Wolf Club - Chasing the Storm

"It is the night before THE high school dance. You know, the all-important one; the dance that will change everything for you. FINALLY. The plans are made. The reservations have been confirmed and you, with your Walkman on, are staring up at the ceiling. It has been a long day. Then, the Garfield phone rings. You roll out of bed, yank the headphones to your neck, step over the tangled cord for the NES Zapper light gun, and answer the call. Garfield’s eyes roll up as you pick up the receiver.

“Hello,” you say quickly.

“Hi.”

“I was hoping you would call,” you continue.

“I can’t go,” says the familiar voice.

The parents don’t like you. You knew this already. But something else has changed. There is a timbre to the voice on the other end that upsets you. Other plans have been made and they don’t include you.

"You can't go?"

"Well, I can't go with you," and then the line goes dead.

The finality of one choice made still buzzing in your ear.

You slam the phone down. Disconnect it from the jack. Poor Garfield. He did nothing wrong.

But your heart doesn’t care. It is breaking…

Wolf Club - Chasing the Storm

…and only the full listening of ethereal daydream of Wolf Club’s Chasing the Storm will offer comfort.

The plasma of the past is made hip again with Wolf Club’s Chasing the Storm. This is an album, released under license to TimeSlave Recordings, where the machine-made sounds of the past to reflect man’s bubblegum beating heart still matter. Ten electronic tracks in which everyone – no matter race, creed, religion, sex, or country of birth – is invited to the high school dance; the best years indeed.

"From moody electronic ballads to deep dancefloor grooves, this release – a truly inspired and dreamlike one – is EXACTLY what we needed."

Get ready to dance the night away, Van Halen II.

And in the riding of that New Wave comes a journey that pushes us into the future. This is an album, Wolf Club's second stellar release, that invokes all sorts of summer vibes. It is sparkling and endlessly catchy as heartbreak and desire are almost effortlessly vocalized in each and every single one of these songs. Everything simmers with an unforgettable synthwave sheen. Surely hope is right around the corner?!

And it begins with a solid playfulness. “Long time since the last one,” begins “84” as the rising polish of synths bathes the listener in a brand new light of inclusion. This song will be a slow opener, full of vibrancy and gentle reminders of exactly where we are headed: 1984. And it must be because the next one, “Summer Lights” is a bubbling synthwave single that knows no limit, recalling the futurepop found on Madonna’s first album. It is THAT catchy.

With cover art by Ulrik Vatle Jensen, even space itself is no limit for the sounds that come bubbling out of this reflective release. One listen to “Things Were Simpler Then” with its plaintive voice repeating for us to not let go, tells us everything we need to know. The layered longing here is one that is both nostalgic and relevant as these producers go for broke in their processing of the previous era. There is strength here; the mining of the neon past IS a way forward for many. One look at my Casio watch is all I need to know of the progress in merging the past with the future forward made perfect by “Chasing the Storm” and its starlight simplicity.

Vocal synthwave gets further served with fervor and purpose thanks to the strong rhythm of “Young Minds”, a track that brings the pixelated past into the sleekness of virtual reality, ushering it to its own special sectioned-off seat in theater. This track is immediately supported by one-two electronic slap of “Waiting” and “Caught in the Night”, a song that flitters in and out of its existence thanks the breathy vocals. With the transcendental groove of “Starlight” and the endless glitter-minded gaze of “Heartbreak” on the way, this release begs for dancefloor dynamics. Turn it up, brother and sisters of retrograde path.

From moody electronic ballads to deep dancefloor grooves, this release – a truly inspired and dreamlike one – is EXACTLY what we needed. The final track, “Lifelines”, is a slow burn of nostalgia. Both in sounds and lyrics, this song is emblematic of the entire release. We keep one hand on our heart and the other on the wheel as we drive the coast, trying to reconnect with the past in order to build a better future…for you.

Wolf Club suffers not with the AMAZING gloss of their second release.