Review Summary: its the year of the rat baby, didn't you know?
Wil Wagner speaks to me. He speaks to quite a few people judging by the success he has found with ‘The Smith Street Band’. A band who has singlehandedly turned the Australian Punk scene away from fake American Accents and dishonest lyrics to Bogan accents and songs about feeling sad and lonely in the bush.
Spiralling is exactly what the title explains. It’s a descent of emotions and feelings that weave in and out of Wil’s beautiful wordplay, unmistakable vocals and simple but damn effective backing tracks. For the unseasoned ear, Wil’s voice is going to be the biggest hurdle. Even people in Australia have a hard time with it, which is weird and sad considering it is OUR accent, like it or not Aussies – this is how we sound to the world.
This album came out after a really hard time for Wil. You can find out what exactly went down if you like, but it involves Bush fires and various personal accusations. If you can’t be bothered or do not care to find out, well it’s all here. ‘The Saddest in the Room’ and ‘Tummy’ being the most obvious responses to everything that went wrong for Wil. ‘God, The Devil and Bruce Springsteen’ is the peak track here. The lyrics are so damn hard but relatable to me in every single way and it’s backed by a nice piano piece which I am SUCKER for until it explodes into all the cheesy 90’s ballad you can take – AND I AM HERE FOR IT.
Wil’s lyrics always manage to find a way to make me dive into the deepest parts of my mind and start reliving things I don’t want to. It’s a gift that Wil has and there is no exception here. I could pick any song and paste the whole damn thing and let you all know how and why I relate to it. But I just have one, from ‘The Saddest In The Room.' It’s a simple line, that’s not original in anyway and has probably been sung a million times before, but its new to me here and its everything I felt for such a long time – ‘I'm still not leaving the house for fear of running into you’.
Spiralling is a simple and pleasant release. Its folk inspired for the most part and is just Wil and his guitar trudging away. There are moments when a full band kicks in and these moments work nicely, but it is when it’s just Wil and his guitar/piano that really hits. I could sit and listen to him ramble all damn day and I would be the happiest sad dude around.
really love this one
