Over the last year, Space Wolves put together an astounding collection of pitch-perfect guitar driven pop rock. Long haired crusaders of the short and sweet, Nick Reynolds (guitar, choir boy vocals, near encyclopedic knowledge of Japanese surf rock and the specifics of various literary forms) and Chris Scammura (drums, vaguely ginger) just released their fourth cassette, Space Wolves IV, which is also freely available on their bandcamp. IV is a continuation of their work to date, a burst of catchy melodies and clever lyrics as much a call back to the early 60's as to the C86 bands of the mid '80s.
By now, the band has thoroughly solidified their sound. Space Wolves' music is deceptively simple. Songs rarely crack 2 minutes, driven by quick guitars and treble soaked guitar. It is refreshingly devoid of a prominent bass, and the songs are all harmony and melody. Reynolds' gentle and sonorous voice pushes the music forward while he simultaneously pulls off blisteringly quick footed melodies on guitar. Scammura keeps pace, providing the music's backbone and doing the work of 2 people. The whole thing is effortlessly enjoyable while you marvel at their ability to keep up this pace of solid songwriting.
IV finds the duo building on past success, continuing their frantic pace of recording while miraculously maintaining quality. This isn't necessarily music that takes off into new directions but highlights the inherent difficulty in making consistently good pop music. There is nothing over the top or grandiose, nothing that isn't trying to be anything more than catchy, appealing, fun while remaining good with a capital G. This is Good Music. The depth is not in their playing with convention but in plunging into its preexisting possibilities. This is a clear rejoinder to the increasingly prevalent but ultimately false presupposition that to fully immerse yourself in genre is steer away from making truly great work. The attitude then goes onto suggest that the use of genre (itself relegated from the respectability of "Art") means you must keep up an ongoing challenge to its existing rules. Under this thinking, one couldn't make a simple record like IV, one would have to constantly thwart our expectations. And while playing with these expectations can produce something compelling, oftentimes it is far more difficult to work entirely within those conventions and produce something as excellent as IV. Genre provides the appropriate constraint for something both readable and intriguing.
It will be interesting to see what the group does next. To date, they have a tremendous catalog of music anchored by a dedication to writing catchy songs. As Reynolds points out on the album's closer, we are all going to die quite alone, but at least we have some catchy tapes to take with us.
Also, 10" records are the worst.
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