I’m a regular visitor over at I Am Fuel, You Are Friends and thanks to Heather I’ve fallen hard for Denver outfit The Wheel this week. From their myspace:
Whatever you do, don’t ask the members of your favorite group why they start side projects. The answer is always the same old cliche: “We have all these songs that don’t fit with our main band, blah blah blah.” The Wheel, however, means it. Nathaniel Rateliff, along with his Born in the Flood bandmate Joseph Pope, began the Wheel as an outlet for their slower and more somber material.
And what lovely material it is. Of the few tracks I’ve heard so far, my favourite has to be ‘My Hanging Surrender’. Nathaniel’s distinctive vocals soar and teeter and I love the high-pitched twangy bits where you have no idea what he’s saying, but it doesn’t matter because there’s feeling there, feeling of the kind that doesn’t need words. ‘Just For Me, But I Thought Of You’ is also beautiful, a quieter piece with lovely backing vocals and some nice feathery snare work.
My Hanging Surrender – The Wheel
Just For Me, But I Thought Of You – The Wheel
Bonus live take (go here for the rest of the show):
Hanging Surrender (Live) – The Wheel
Bonus coverage from a Nirvana tribute show earlier in the year:
Something In The Way (Nirvana Cover) – The Wheel
Sliver (Nirvana Cover) – The Wheel
I really like those Nirvana covers.
ok, i clicked on the vid thinking, “here goes agnes again, with her guitar strumming sad voiced men” LOL… (yeah like I have any room to talk on that issue! glass house, stone, uh huh!) and then he hit those high notes and oh my god, my soul did a double take and I completely fell for this one.
damn you, agnes! this is goooooood, thanks xoxoxo
AFM – I wish the sound was a little better – too much crowd interference, but they’re still good.
Tart – Hahahaha, thankyou! Come to think of it, there has been a quite a lot of ‘guitar strumming sad voiced men’ action happening around here lately hasn’t there! I’m quite liking the melancholy tunes at the moment, it’s got something to do with winter I think. Glad you like.
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