Review Summary: The house that Ginger built
Unfortunately, despite its long history,
The Wildhearts failed to achieve wider exposure and ended up as a more obscure and cult band. As is always the case, there are several reasons that contributed to that. The bandmembers struggled for a long time with a standard set of addictions which resulted in periodic fluctuations within the band, leaving its leader,
Ginger, as a constant but at the same time fickle element. The band went through several breakups and hiatuses. Difficult relationships with, and an occasional spanner thrown by their recording label in the early days also made the goal of achieving the coveted exposure look like a line on the horizon.
However, the sound of The Wildhearts is also a large contributor. And this is not a reference to the punk vibe running through the whole discography. The fact that Ginger and Co. allowed themselves to behave unruly, pouring out expletives and showing what they think of tolerance and other matters, is nothing new and quite typical for the punk movement. The Wildhearts are a lot more intriguing because of their deeply appealing devil-may-care attitude to musical conventions.
Let’s take their new album
21st Century Love Songs as an example. Listen to its first track and you will clearly hear the musical approach employed by The Wildhearts. We start off with powerful, almost metal riffs followed by harsh and loud vocals courtesy of Ginger, who sings about modern views on love (don’t forget the album’s title) in a sneering and ironic fashion. Then we get a chorus performed in an almost recitative manner against a heavy punk-like melody.
And what is so surprising there, you may think? That is until the bridge with its instrumental break. Only a minute and a half long, it contains some nice changes and styles, so organically yet intertwined, and manages to wow the listener. The sudden shift to something progressive, along the lines of
Dream Theater and
Haken, is impressive (however, it is bread-and-butter for The Wildhearts), and it is thrown in so casually and breezily that it does not fall apart within the song. And even though it then goes back to more traditional rails, ending on the chorus performed with gang vocals, we still sense that imaginative wink to the audience.
Many of the remaining tracks are just as unpredictable and take sudden left turns. Some of them are more straightforward, following the verse-chorus-verse structure (such as on
Sleepaway or
Directions). Some move in the completely opposite direction.
Institutional Submission is an almost progressive track, mixing thrash metal, hard rock, and multiple time signatures. Musically, practically every song subverts expectations: radio-friendly poppy choruses can be surrounded by metal verses, or pop-punk intros are followed by thrash or heavy metal.
And this is exactly what makes The Wildhearts so unique and distinctive, but also hampers the chances of mainstream adoration. Their leader Ginger loves horror B-movies, and that is what the band sounds like. One song may contain so many hooks, melodies, and styles (which some albums fail to do), but it is also not something that can be appreciated by everyone. Still, it is always refreshing and unexpected to stumble upon a gem like this. So I implore you, give The Wildhearts a chance. Who knows, you may like them.
