Review Summary: An interesting, radio friendly sound, whether you're in for white witchcraft or not. A notable Ramones cover included.
If you just took a look at the cover of the Arden and the Wolves Who Can You Trust EP, you’d get the impression that something sinister is going on. Quite possibly, depending on how you look about somebody proclaiming themselves as practitioners of witchcraft, even if white witchcraft is in question!
And that is exactly what the case is with Arden Leigh, a New York girl who took her band to LA where she could practice magickal arts (about which she also writes) and where she came up with this EP (band’s second) which itself also includes a few spells in the liner notes.
But the spells themselves seem to be just a part of the music itself that as a narrative is to present and help her get rid of all the bad experiences that she wanted to get out of herself, including bad relationships that went as far as sexual assault, it seems. In her own words, she wanted not only to help herself but others that went through similar experiences.
It is interesting then to see (and hear) that the cover song included here is the Ramones’ “Poison Heart”, certainly an interesting choice. Something that really was an intriguing proposition. If you think of it though, the subject matter obviously fits. But how does it sound?
First off, Arden and the band have quite a radio-friendly sound comparable to the likes of Panic At The Disco, early Paramore or Evanescence and they stick to it throughout the five songs here with ease and aplomb. It is just a question whether it is something you like or not. But the Ramones cover is a highlight in a way. Although Arden and the Wolves accommodate the song to their style (who could follow that pace after all?), they do retain the songs original musical concept, you can trace the song's origins to the Ramones, even if you didn’t know it was theirs.
As for the rest of the material, it is obvious that it served as a release foil for Arden and all that she went through, and she certainly has both the voice and passion to present it to all that want to hear it. The band itself has sound, good chops to be able to present a good foil for Arden.
Now the question remains how you can relate to Arden’s beliefs, who, judging by this EP, it seems leaves ample space for everybody to have their own view on things.
