The Wolfhounds Untied Kingdom (…Or How To Come To Terms With Your Culture)

Edition of 500. After last year’s recent singles compilation Middle Aged Freaks and the almost simultaneous reissue of their 1986 debut Unseen Ripples From A Pebble, C86 legends The Wolfhounds release their first standalone LP since 1990’s Attitude. Untied Kingdom or How to Come To Terms With Your Culture is the band’s most varied release yet. From the opening, a capella, iPhone-manipulated folk resurrection of ‘Apparition’ to the apocalyptic repetition of the electric violin and detuned guitar driven ‘Across The River of Death’, and incorporating sample mangled dub, freakbeat protest punk and late-night unplugged lo-fi along its 50-minute plus journey, the album musically and lyrically goes pretty much everywhere all other underground bands can’t or won’t go. The album summons sometimes dystopic, sometimes frighteningly dysfunctional hallucinations of desperate working life and insecurity, while at the same time being as raw and hardcore celebratory as danceable blues. It’s a modern as any young band could hope to be, but as wise and disturbed as any alert adult has to be. It conjours up demons of the fiercest rock’n’roll along with the unfettered experimentation of singer Callahan’s previous band, Moonshake, as well as even the occasional pop hook, to form an expansive whole with surprises around every spin of the turntable. It features plenty of distinctive guests including trumpets and saxophones by Terry Edwards (Gallon Drunk, P J Harvey), keyboards by Rhodri Marsden (Scritti Politti), and guest vocals from Katherine M Whittaker (Evans the Death), Elin Grimstad (Je Suis Animal) and Astrud Steehouder (Paper Dollhouse). Originally formed as teenagers in 1984, the band released four critically acclaimed LPs before initially disbanding in 1990, after appearing on the legendary and influential C86 cassette, and releasing four critically acclaimed LPs and many singles, while touring the UK and Continent extensively. The band reformed properly in 2006 at the request of St Etienne’s Bob Stanley to celebrate 20 years since the release of C86, and inflicted a severe guitar noisefest on an unsuspecting indiepop crowd at London’s ICA. Since 2012 they have been recording and releasing new material. Despite being past their 30th anniversary, Untied Kingdom now shows they can blow any act half their age offstage, while outclassing them creatively in every way. The Wolfhounds are back and better than ever. // 'Fantastically caustic … always tougher and more canny than their peers’ - Uncut, Feb 2015. // It makes for an incredibly thrilling journey’ - Mojo, Feb 2015. //