by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
We’re living in an era where records are being made by new bands that have never all been in the same place. In the spirit of collaboration, this isn’t unique to the pandemic times, but the quality of these type of releases is definitely on the rise these days. Winged Wheel is a new band with some familiar faces - Cory Plump (Spray Paint, Rider/Horse), Whitney Johnson (Matchess), Fred Thomas (Idle Ray, Tyvek), and Matthew Rolin (Powers/Rolin Duo) - bringing a diverse musical sensibility to their latest project and creating something unique in the process. While it started innocently enough with Plump soliciting Thomas for some drum loops to jam over, it spiraled out from there into a back and forth between the four members, each with their own concept of what they were creating. The result is No Island, the band’s debut album, out April 29th via 12XU (Borzoi, Florry, Lewsberg), a propulsive blend of krautrock, kosmische, and punk that feels both free and focused. They may have recorded it apart from one another but they’ve pulled everything together seamlessly.
“Monsella,” the album’s opener and first single is a wonderful introduction, with Fred Thomas’ drums hard and fast at the core of it all. The looping rhythm is kinetic, piecing together an unwavering energy while the guitars and bass are set free to explore, and they do. Rolin and Plump shred in the dreamiest sense of the word, with long drawn out washes of reverberating notes juxtaposing the tempo, and darting grooves to balance it all together. It’s perfectly hypnotic and intricately captivating. Whitney Johnson’s subdued vocals sit nestled into the mix like a spectre in the fog, adding a beauty and air of mystery to the ever evolving track.