From the country town - or suburb of Sydney? - of Gerringong comes Wont. It's a hefty 15 tracker one-man-band from a guy called Will. So he's called himself Wont. And all songs are written, performed and recorded at the end of 2003 by Will - or Wont. It's a big ask in this busy world of tvs, hi-fis and phones to take the time out to listen to every single song that gets sent to us and I have put on Nine Pines about 4 times right the way through! Que? Nothing else to do? No other demos to listen to? Big Brother too...pink? No, we were going to make this D.O.T.W because of one song, 'Ivy In The Window', and thought it best to have another listen. Then another. So I found a few more that stood out from the pack. And it is a pack - a pack of screaming, distorted wolves as most of the vocals are pretty much screamed. The booklet says "this album is for those gentle and those dreamy" but you know something in Wont is a tad unhinged when the album opens with actual screaming (the lyrics included tell me the one word in this song is 'hey'). There's nothing gentle and dreamy about this at all. wont
Track two 'Ivy In The Window' is an incredible song which sounds like some long lost late 70s English D.I.Y art-punk single. It's got great lyrics based around the word 'even' repeated over. Catchy! The music is frenetic, sharp-edged and tight (well played real drums always help home-recorded music in my opinion) and has an enthusiastic energy that shows through in all of Wont's songs. Other highlights are 'Mercy Blue', 'The Seams' (with special guest Thurston Moore on vocals!), 'Benson Street' (really like the musical interlude that reminded me of the original Jesus Christ Superstar soundtrack) and 'Isn't Escapee Our Frequency' which brought back memories of the late 70s Sydney band The Thought Criminals - another classic art-punk band. So if there's one genre to file Wont under, it's ART-PUNK. -ND
contact: willjohncock@hotmail.com
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