On the first Friday of every month, I'm bringing you a new episode in the first season of the Pickathon Pumphouse Series. Each episode is a live performance filmed in the tiny little Pumphouse studio, on the grounds of the Pickathon music festival in Happy Valley, Oregon, filmed by Live & Breathing. For more on the festival and the series, see this post.
Today's episode three brings us a performance from the UK's own Wolf People, a four-piece psych-rock outfit whose performances at Pickathon (their West Coast debut) had reviewers rapturous.
I hadn't heard about this band until I heard about those performances, but I loved it immediately. It's one of my favorite subgenres: beardo weirdo rock. The intricate, blues-based, prog-adjacent psychedelia is reminiscent of other great bands currently mining the same vein, including Dungen, Black Mountain, and White Denim (all of whom I love).
At the same time, singer Jack Sharp's reedy voice, pastoral melodies, and English-folk lyrics are reminiscent of older bands in the same tradition, like the Kinks. The combination of Tolkien nerdiness and thundering, solo-ridden guitar work even harks back to early Led Zeppelin.
Without further ado, here's "Hesperus," from their 2013 LP Fain:
You can buy Wolf People's other albums here. They have a new one coming in 2016 with what they describe as shorter, harder, less ethereal songs. I'm looking forward to it.
