Review Summary: Send the Wolves is skipping the five-star restaurant in favor of a satisfying homemade meal.
Send the Wolves is the fourth album from Omaha, Nebraska-based rockers Little Brazil. It comes nine years after their last effort, Son, and finds band founders Landon Hedges and Dan Maxwell perfecting their galloping Omaha indie-rock sound.
Hedges — vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist — might be better known for his role as the bassist and co-vocalist for fellow Omaha group Desaparecidos (the politically-charged project helmed by Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes), but Little Brazil has been his and Maxwell’s musical vehicle for over fifteen years. And though Little Brazil’s success has been mostly local to Omaha, that hasn’t stopped the pair from crafting an ode to life as they’ve seen it.
Send the Wolves, is a jaunt through a peppy rock and roll sound behind Hedge’s soulful croons. Lyrically, Hedges spans the album ruminating on the years since Son; a lot can happen to a person in almost a decade. Hedges explores rotating bandmates through the years, finding love in San Diego, coming to terms with getting older, learning to appreciate simplicity in life, and cheering on the generations coming behind him. The realities of “being an adult” comes at you hard and fast, but it’s possible to make it out the other end. And when you do, like Hedges has, the bruises and scars are stories — good times and bad — that illustrate the person you’ve become.
At the end of the day, if you’re looking for easy to listen to, solid rock and roll with relatable lyrics, look no further than
Send the Wolves. While there’s nothing overly exciting or novel going on here, at this point in their musical careers, Hedges and Maxwell aren’t looking to impress anyone but themselves, their friends, and their families and that’s okay; we all should hope to be that content in life one day.
