Alexander Wolfe is not a household name here in Australia however in his native England, he’s already beginning to build a bit of an underground following. Even now thinking back on it, how I came to discover him as an artist was tenuous at best, courtesy of the theme song he supplied for a quirky BBC comedy TV series back in 2011. Now three years later, I’m still as enthralled by his third and latest record called From The Shallows, as I was with his first.
For those unfamiliar with Alexander Wolfe’s work, he is a folk singer-songwriter, on his Twitter bio he is a self-described ‘balladeer, noisemaker, schmuck’ and this is all a fairly simple way of boiling it down. What isn’t simple is his music and in particular, this new record. Wolfe’s previous two albums Morning Brings A Flood and Skeletons, first and second respectively, were both gorgeous but strongly focused on an acoustic atmosphere. There was a certain minimalism and level of restraint in instrumentation and a feeling of space between the sounds in the production. Most of this was due to the foundations of the music coming from a self-produced home studio. Wolfe opted to take a bit of a leap with half of the tracks on From The Shallows and jam packs in a whole bunch of noises, sounds, harmonies and instruments and for those of us familiar with his previous work, it’s initially a jarring surprise. Persevering through the record though reveals a welcome evolution in Wolfe’s sound that shows maturity and a willingness to expand his repertoire. With this third recording also being mastered by Frank Arkwright at Abbey Road Studios, the step up in production quality is noticeable.
“Trick Of The Light” kicks things off and it’s a guitar plucking country tinged hoe-down, with layered vocal backing harmonies. It’s got a faster beat and kick, which makes it feel bright but surprisingly, it seems to have a bit of a dark under current to it so there’s an interesting juxtaposition going on. The uptempo nature continues with “Sunburn”, this time it’s littered with hand claps, saxophone and yet more backing vocals that could rival Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. Two of the craziest tracks on the record “Swallow The Dice” and “The Drowned Man” are worlds away from Wolfe’s previous simple acoustic style, the former sounding like something out of a 1920’s jazz jam session filled with brassy horns and a mid-song breakdown of finger clicks and piano that then snaps back into a brash mess of electric guitars and horns again. The latter, this jazz folk piece that feels like it’s constantly rushing in a fast paced marching beat to get to the end all whilst trombones and saxophones blare out at you alongside Wolfe’s crooning vocals.
Personally, my favourite track on the record is “Into The Deep”. It begins fairly simply, with some piano and a xylophone and then ever so sneakily builds, adding layer upon layer of guitars, horns and strings. Then at the halfway point in the song, it erupts into this enormous crescendo of sound, with Wolfe’s vocals leading the way amongst all the instruments, and driven heavily by the rolling drums provided by Steve Pilgrim. It’s spine-tingling, uplifting and hauntingly beautiful all whilst simultaneously breaking your heart. Fans of Wolfe’s earlier material are not left wanting though, “Her Shadow Weighs A Ton” and the last two tracks on the record “Love Is All There Is” and “Set Your Shadow Free” push Wolfe’s wispy, occasionally dreamy yodel-ly vocals and his guitar to the fore along with the accompanying strings. A sound and style which featured heavily on his previous two records.
Wolfe has not only produced a record bursting at the seams with sound but he has not forsaken his gorgeous lyrics in favour of all this extra noise. Songs subtly written about falling in and out of love, dreamscapes and fantasies and all sorts of things between. Poetically summing up a heartbreak with, “It’s something I can’t comprehend, you walk towards an open door, the girl you’ve loved for years before is gone, and her shadow weighs a ton…”, in “Her Shadow Weighs A Ton”. But then on the flipside, we have that heart-warming reminder of, “It swings and it turns, it stings and it burns, but in the end, love is all there is…”, in “Love Is All There Is”. His lyrics are wistful and ethereal and rarely straightforward and are more resembling tales and folk stories like those sung around a campfire.
Comparisons to Nick Drake, Neil Young, Van Morrison or Jeff Buckley are easy to see, particularly since the singer-songwriter troubadour foundations are there. However on this record, Wolfe has touches of jazz, blues, soul and country thrown into the mix and though it’s not a new gimmick to fuse these sounds it’s enjoyable to see that he’s not completely pigeon-holed himself as a folk indie artist either. For those new to his work, this record is possibly a bit of a wild ride and understandably, his vocal stylings may not be to everybody’s taste either. My only gripe would be the placement of “Into The Deep” in the song order, for a track as grandiose as that, I would’ve put it right at the very end. Though admittedly, having two of the acoustic based tracks close the album almost feels like a little P.S postscript that Wolfe has done as a means of addressing his more ardent fans and reminding them he hasn’t forgotten his roots.
From The Shallows is an eclectic record, full of lyrical dreamscapes and emotional highs and lows. Wolfe might like to call himself a schmuck, but with an album and sound like this, he’s far from it.
Review Score: 8.9 out of 10. 
From The Shallows by Alexander Wolfe is available on iTunes now
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