REVIEW: WOMBO EXPLORE THE ETHEREAL IN NEW ALBUM ‘DANGER IN FIVES’
REVIEW
REVIEW
☆ BY KYLEE WIENS ☆
To Louisville art rockers Wombo, art is meant to be experienced and interpreted by the individual. Comprised of Sydney Chadwick (bass guitar, vocals), Cameron Lowe (guitar), and Joel Taylor (drums), the experimental trio crafts a sound that blurs the lines between life and dreams, truth and fiction, and the real and surreal. Their newest album, Danger in Fives, engenders an angular post-punk sensibility balanced with dissonant abstraction. The result is kaleidoscopic, hypnotic, and impossible to pin down. Wombo blends a wide range of musical influences with a sharp, forward-thinking approach, crafting an eleven-track cinematic universe that pulls listeners fully into its world.
Short, punchy tracks, airy vocal delivery, and distorted guitar tones characterize the album’s sonic mysticism. Like falling into a deep sleep, opening track “Danger in Fives” lulls listeners in with the dreary, repetitive verse “See through mind said to me/the danger comes in fives/aisles of old objects/I like to be around.” Chadwick’s vocals are breathy and hypnotic, with syllables stretched and manipulated to create contrast against Lowe’s asymmetric guitar riffs. The result recalls Cocteau Twins in their lyrical ambiguity and lush instrumental arrangements.
“S.T. Tilted” takes a more urgent approach, with Taylor’s taut and nervous drumming style taking center stage. Lowe’s guitar performance delivers riffs that twist and snap in unexpected directions, all while maintaining a sense of unity and forward direction. The album continues with its dream-like playfulness, with tracks “Cloud 36” and “Ugly Room” conjuring fractal images of nature, light, space, and time.
When asked if the album is meant to be a continuation or departure from their previous sound, Chadwick told Luna, “It’s very us, which is inevitable, but we are always expanding and exploring and wanting to create something new. I think when you are aware of your particular voice as musicians and a band, you can have the freedom of creating new without losing the essence of it.” Lowe added, “In a funny way, a continuation of our previous sound will always be a departure and something new. It’s kinda baked into our approach that it is always an exploration.”
The element of exploration is extremely prominent throughout the album. “A Dog Says” features a heavier and grittier guitar tone, creating a slight uneasiness to the overall soft haziness of the album. Lowe explains about the recording process of that track, “One thing I enjoyed was the way some moments from demos were incorporated and blended with the studio recordings. One example is the weird guitar that sounds like a record scratch in the second half of “A Dog Says.” Bringing the original sound from the demo version helped merge the long period between the demos and tracking the record, and helped bring back some of the essence of the original ideas.”
“Really Melancholy and There are No Words” is a dissonant echo of humming, further reinforcing the restlessness and anxious undertones of the otherworldly track arrangement. “Spyhopping” follows, winding through crackling basslines and arpeggiated guitar notes, and producing a surprise note around every corner.
The album concludes with “Garden Spies,” a stunning last hurrah - featuring punchy, muted guitar notes and introspective, sultry basslines. Like an alarm going off in a dream, listeners feel a sense of return and waking up, perhaps from the vivid dream that was Danger in Fives. Wombo successfully created a prismatic and alluring sonic landscape, but doesn’t want listeners to walk away with any pre-conceived interpretations. Chadwick remarks, “We don’t like to put in a box, how to think or feel about a song. We just want people to listen and respond naturally to them.”
Danger in Fives is as enigmatic as it is beautiful, and is well worth every listen. Pick up a copy at your local record store, support Wombo on Bandcamp, and keep an eye out for the future tour dates. As their experimental nature has expanded throughout their discography, there’s no telling just how far Wombo will take their sound.
