Review Summary: Wicca does a complete 180 with his sound.
There's something about Adam McIlwee's music that always strikes a chord in me. The former Tigers Jaw front man has a knack for evoking extreme feelings of nostalgia with his country-tinged, ethereal trap beats, serene folk bits and dark, dream pop-esque atmospheres. He wanted to break away from playing exclusively Midwest emo music and put his own spin on things, which he certainly has. All of his releases thus far have been really varied, with some of his early stuff being straight-up emo rap/trap (similar to fellow Gothboi Clique member Lil Peep), and later offerings that include the country and dream pop influences while maintaining the gloomy and desolate atmosphere.
Wicca's newest album,
Mossy Oak Shadow, is a sonic shift in what fans have come to expect from him and his band of sad goth guys. This album is straight-up, melancholy-filled indie folk with some heavy alt-country and folk rock influences. It's a complete 180 from everything fans have known from Wicca, even if the influences were creeping in beforehand. The traptastic beats and horror-inducing witch house vibes have gone out the window. So how does this shift work out for Adam and his band of banshees? Well, it works out pretty damn well folks.
The overall sound of this album is very light and almost upbeat, but also has a haunting twang in the background at all times and Adam's monotone, beautifully rough singing voice really gives off a “cowboy in a wild west shootout” kind of vibe. This alone is something completely different than anything Adam has attempted before and you have to admire his willingness to branch out from his typical influences and styles. ‘Horseback’ is a full-on indie folk/slacker rock track with tripped-out, psychedelic guitar melodies and almost reminds me of the foggy atmospherics from Women's
Public Strain. Another track like ‘I Get It’ is almost Hendrix-esque with the guitar solo and jam rock vibe overall.
That's just a few examples. Each subsequent track that follows shows that Adam can definitely hang in the folk/country game if he so chooses. Take a track like ‘Enchantment’, sounding like it came straight from a Johnny Cash record with the stripped-back production and the deep, baritone vocals. A lot of this album sounds like an old-school country record made while on a mind-bending mushroom trip. It's as if the acoustics have been dipped in a magical hallucinogen that makes them reverberate with fuzz and distortion.
‘Meet Me Anywhere’ is the clear stand out here for me personally. It's an emotionally draining tradeoff between Adam and Ethel Cain, who brings her trademark soaring, soul-stirring croons to the depressing indie folk party. It's a track about doing anything to be with the person you love as Ethel sings ‘meet me there, whether cold wind's still blowing, or the rust has finally buckled under the weight of night trains, till failed break of dawn, if you wonder how long, I'd still say meet me anywhere’. It's a gorgeous duet that is simplistic musically, but is carried by the terrific vocal performances of both Adam and Ethel.
Mossy Oak Shadow isn't perfect. A lot of it does tend to get a bit samey after a bit, but you can't deny the pure beauty that radiates from this album. That's kind of Wicca Phase Springs Eternal's game at this point. He may not be making anything truly groundbreaking, but all of his music is full of passion and soul. You can feel his emotions deep in the pores of everything he has ever released, and for me, that's more important than originality. As for the change in sound, I'd say that it's a success for Adam in just about every way.
