WOLFCLUB - Desert Hearts

Review by Karl Magi

Overall Album Impressions

WOLFCLUB's Desert Hearts mixes passionate vocal performances with well-crafted lyrics and a deeply engaging synth palette. This is music with depth, intensity and a pleasing retro vibe wedded to crisp production. WOLFCLUB also takes on board talented guests who add even more richness to the music.

All of the vocal performances on Desert Hearts are first-rate. The group’s main vocalist, Stephen Wilcoxson, has a voice with a broad range and emotive power that can soar or ache with equal strength. The guest vocalists all bring voices with unique sounds and expressive depth to the mix, increasing the album’s ability to touch the listener.

Themes of love, betrayal, desire and loss fill the song lyrics on Desert Hearts. There’s a pleasing blend of darkness, evocative imagery and conflicting emotion within the words of the album. I enjoy the clarity and emotional power in the writing and how well all of the vocalists can translate those elements into audible feelings.

WOLFCLUB’s synth palette adds colour and vibrancy to the songs. Each sound is well-calculated to add to the expressive nature of the music. There’s a rich variety of tones, timbres and auditory signatures that interweave into lush tapestries as they twine around the vocals that are at the album’s heart.

My Favourite Tracks Analyzed

“Crystallise” comes to life as razor-edged, elevated synth leaps in sharp undulations above a chest-pounding kick drum. The synth pattern has a shattering clarity as it cries out with intense feeling while the snare drum slams. Guitar tangles in flaring motion, while bass roars along with hard hitting drums.

The female singer’s voice is flowing and expressive as it carries a melody mingling uplift and memory. Drums collide with tremendous power as the bright synth tide flows in entangled lines. Desire wars with loss in the lead singer’s voice in a pleasingly powerful manner.

Intensely pulsating notes fly out as the female singer expresses yearning emotion while the low end surges with sinewy strength. The guitar has a lightning dynamism as it jumps out above the massive muscle that propels the song with synth radiance glowing in the background. The lead singer imbues her voice with passionate feeling as the song ends.

The storyteller speaks about being able to “see…breathe…feel” the other person but she adds “then we both go and hide in the dark.” She goes on to say that the song subject knows she’ll break their heart. She says that they can run and hide but it doesn’t make a difference because “it’s all just a matter of luck.”

Our narrator points out that she has know the song’s subject for many years. When they were together, the other person was hers and their relationship was shared but “it all passed away into dust.” She is looking for a brief contact “to get high, to get by” and to recall that all of us are “just a shadow of love.”

She reminisces about being out in the night “when we were alive.” There was nothing but secrets and our storyteller asks how they can hide “in the lie of a kiss.” She blames the song’s subject for being the cause of the situation and now she can only dance alone. Seeking in the darkness, she fights to reach “the fire of the night of a kiss” which is the “only reason its like this.”

Reverberating, trembling synth weaves a warm, tangling flow above luscious bass sailing beneath it to begin “Journey To The Second Sun.” Stephen Wilcoxson and NYRE’s voices call out with an enfolding melody, echoing as a thudding kick drum supports flickering metallic synth.

The vocal melody holds need and wistful longing together, carried on the emotive vocals. Guitar flies in now, full of hopeful energy that flashes out above the powerful drum and bass motion supporting it. The guitar wheels through the music, slightly gritty as it spins out an energizing solo while drums pulsate.

Brightness flares from the guitar’s impassioned cries as radiant synth intertwines. The vocals capture all the mingled emotion pouring from the lyrics while a deep yearning permeates the melody.

This song’s lyrics speak of “falling through dust and through satellites (like) the second sun in a violet sky.” The lyrics ask if the narrator can go and if the darkness is the song subject’s home. Now a “rainbow of gravity” rips into the night as UV light is holding tight. The lyrics go on to speak of how the other person shows “light years of being alone.”

Now the lyrics talk about how “reflected, broken mirrors” cut the storyteller’s heart through the stars “on their solar wind.” In the chorus, the words speak about a second sun, adding “you can journey here.” The storyteller has lost their love but has the song subject’s to give. The song also speaks of how the main character lost their life but “I’ve got yours to live.”

In the final verse, the song says that its subject is in the narrator’s heart “like a chemical” and is in their veins as “the pain that I think I want.” The lyrics speak of a “desert heart” that’s like a smashed atom bomb, a heart whose “ventricles, they extend, through the universe.”

Widely glittering synth sweeps into a melody touched by wistful emotion despite its intense shine to start “Desert Hearts.” Dora Pereli’s voice caresses my ears tenderly, carrying a dreaming melody as a snare drum rattles in time to her singing.

In the background, luminous synth threads intertwine and provide a supporting lattice to Dora Perelli’s emotive vocal performance. Bursting drums accent the lyrical delivery, adding punctuation along with a growling guitar line. A gently longing quality fills the vocals in contrast to the drum pulse.

Medium-high, glistening synth leaps out in a melody that is touching and tranquil. Dora Pereli’s full voice glides along with expressive feeling and the drums keep throbbing. Broad-sounding guitar entangles with glowing synth and the song ends on flickering light.

Our narrator speaks of watching as time blurs together while she moves “from life to life just trying to re-connect.” She talks about detesting the ruins of her home town but adds “it’s a place to hesitate, or it’s a place to rest.”

The storyteller feels imprisoned by past desires “in the spare bedrooms” as she screams while her lungs feel like "two burst clenched balloons.” She describes her lips and her heart as muscles able to speak to the other person like “a prayer into the desert of a distant moon.” She adds that the other person’s heart is a muscle but hers is “untouchable” and can’t be stopped.

She says that she has seen the “ truth of the horizon lie” along with the ways to come and go into and out of life. Her tears “deliver the mascara stain right out of my eye” and in a flash she has come to know “the feeling of a passer by.”

“Restless” begins as rapidly trembling synth oscillates below a melody that flashes out with an intertwining gleam as the bass tumbles below. A bursting drumbeat throbs as a flickering synth shines out with gentle light.

A string section sings out a pained melody as Steve Wilcoxson and the female vocalist mingle their voices in a majestic and aching duet as the guitar pines away above powerfully pulsing drums. The two singers have wonderfully well-matched voices that drip emotion from every syllable.

Sparkling brilliance suffuses the strings as they flow above the propulsive rhythm section. The heartfelt vocals blend again as strings wind out with need and loss filling them. The guitar arcs upward and the drumbeat shapes the track before it ends.

Despite their restlessness, the song’s subjects “have never been so far.” They may be reckless but “we’ve never been so lost.” The narrator says that the other person thinks it's okay to walk away and “take the night in another direction.” He adds that the song’s subject wants to run so he says “I’ll take you home but I’ll never forget you."

A charging guitar cries out with gruff edges above a pulsing bass oscillation that scuds underneath it to commence “Shoreline.” Punching drums add dynamism as the guitar cries out. A female vocalist opens with her lighter voice and is followed by Stephen Wilcoxson’s intense vocals as fiercely throbbing drums and dense bass press on.

Both singers let their voices climb skyward as a guitar adds snarling power and the low end surges. A sax lets loose in a jazzily impassioned line that swirls with abandon above the low end’s forward motion. The female vocalist’s gentle but intense vocal is again followed by Stephen Wlicoxson belting out the lyrics as the drums and bass charge.

The sax howls out with reedy energy that reaches high as the slamming low end keeps on driving. There’s a powerfully compelling energy in the sax solo that makes my heart soar in contrast to the darkness in the lyrics.

The narrator speaks about “paying cash at the hotel” and the other person saying they wouldn’t tell but when the song’s subject stepped through the door, the room was empty. He is staring at the ceiling in disbelief and then the other person tells him that they’re leaving.

Our storyteller says that they were “caught in a fever” and then the other person called him a liar to pour “gas on the fire.” He talks about a “heart tangled in wires” that was illuminated by desire. Now there’s a stolen car with a broken windscreen and a frozen engine that makes him realize it’s over.

The narrator tells the other person that they can “melt me to my core” as he screams for more. He asks the other person has found what they are seeking. He has been “dragged down” and left torn by the other person’s crashing wave.

Again he asks if the song’s subject knows what they are searching for. He adds that he’ll race them to the shoreline as it is “meeting up with the skyline.” He says he walked away for the final time but asks ”Can we say it’s the last time?”

The storyteller talks about a distant place that they already missed. The other person claims it never existed. He feels that they just “missed the exit.” He speaks of seeing a face on a billboard that was torn, “ sun-drenched and forlorn.”

The woman on the billboard had empty eyes, full of boredom. He says that he could tell she’d hate being stared at by strangers. She lead a life that was complex and her “dream was so faded.”

“Call Me At The Weekend” begins as a hi hat clashes while a muscled drumbeat reverberates and drives on. Rich bass flows as a blazing brilliance pours from a medium high synth and guitar flashes as Stephen Wilcoxson’s voice calls out with affection and impassioned intensity.

Drums explode outward as tangled guitars radiate blinding light. The echoing chorus floats, carrying an encouraging melody through open space. A guitar slices in a flaming line that kindles hope and joyful emotion in me with pleasing energy. Huge drums rapidly pulse in an uneven pattern and bass growls far below.

SW’S voice has an expansive, expressive quality and the vocal melody captures anticipation and a melancholy pang. The vocals are matched by the guitar’s coruscating gleam and sweeping synth while bass flows outward. Sunbeams flit from elevated synth as the song ends.

Hope fills the narrator’s mind as he asks the other person to call him on the weekend so that they might drive all night. He asks, “Do you think that would be fine?” He says that if the song’s subject calls him they can go away together and he’ll “go wherever you will stay.” He asks if the other person thinks that’s okay.

The storyteller wonders where they can go to stay the night and “lose our heads and track of time.” He also ponders where they might go in order to “find our minds and build the fire in our eyes.” If the song’s subject calls him, he wants to “slip away into the sun” and tell no one. He asks if the other person thinks they can run.

As the song winds up, he points out that if they leave on the weekend, he’s never going back but will take “another track.” His final query for the other person is “Do you think that makes you sad?”

Colossal bass shifts with a smoothly immersive flow that is touched by glistening synth delicately brushing by to open "I Thought I Saw You.” The bass moves forward and bouncing drums create an energetic lift. Stephen Wilcoxson’s broad ranging, emotive voice carries a melody full of painful nostalgia.

The drums and bass create a surging tide and now the vocals rise with flaring light and piercing loss. The drums batter precisely as Stephen Wilcoxson unleashes his entrancingly expressive voice to capture thwarted aspiration. Widely flowing synth with a string-like quality oscillates while gigantic bass pulsates.

The low end adds support while Stephen Wilcoxson pours out his soul into the lyrics. Shining synth falls through the track and the chorus is heavy with separation and broken dreams. The track's low end throbs with immense strength as the song ends on twinkling light fading away.

This tale’s teller says he thought he saw the other person on TV in a crowd but it was low light and they didn’t turn around. With a seeming sigh, he adds “I guess I’ll never know if it was you.” He thinks he heard the song’s subject in a crowded space but it was a “quiet echo, it was gone too soon.” He adds that he wasn’t able to catch the other person’s eye and once again he doesn’t know if it was the other person.

Our narrator says that he doesn’t remember their relationship some days and he’s alright for a moment. He adds, “Even though you’re gone, I still remember what it was.” The pain returns when he realizes that “they” took away the narrator’s ability to “hold you in the night, and kiss you in the morning” without any warning or any reason.

He isn’t sure he can keep repeating the pain of remembering. All he wants to do is run away with the other person and dream of the future. Someone has taken all of their love away and “now there’s nothing else but sorrow.”

Now the storyteller thinks he saw the other person in a dream which is another place they are meant to be. He woke up and now he realizes that “I guess I’ll never know if it was you.”

“Crash” starts off as delicate piano trembles while slowly sliding synth shifts and Stephen Wilcoxson’s limpid voice calls out as massive bass pulsates. The vocal melody is both affectionate and mournful as the bass throbs with gigantic power and the background synth whorls are tinged with effulgence.

The vocals echo out, carrying a heartfelt and aching melody in a way that draws me in. There’s a muscled strength in the bass that contrasts with the soaring passion in the vocals as the huge drums throb in a strong motion along with the bass.

Stephen Wilcoxson’s voice arcs out with intense emotion in every syllable as dominant drums thunder. Synth illumination flashes in a brilliant cascade and the bass rumbles far below before silence falls, sinuous shimmering filling the background.

Our narrator realizes that the trouble is that he needs the song’s subject and “trouble’s all I’ve ever had.” He makes it clear that the other person can stay around but they don’t have to but his “spirit slips into the sad.”

The storyteller feels that it’s a mistake for the other person to take a break from the relationship because "you know I still adore you.” His anxiety is that the other person will move on and meet someone new. He asks, “Is it better when I’m gone?” because he is having trouble telling if that is true or not.

“I didn’t want to crash” our narrator announces, adding that they could have turned or swerved. He wants to know if they can start over and “slow it all down at the red lights.” At the moment, he finds himself braking on wet roads, unable to see the corners in the dark night.

He adds that he didn’t think they’d crash and he thought they’d stay for the duration, but “it all went so fast and now I’m left lost in a part of the past.” He wants to see how the other person is doing but he knows “deep down it’s better not to.”

Conclusion

Desert Hearts is vocal synthwave with emotional intensity, vocal expression and lyrical depth. It flows along on a synthesized tide, full of a plethora of ear-catching sounds that grow together into a well-produced whole. I enjoy letting the music pull me in and carry me away.