Featured Album

Each week XPN's Mike Vasilikos, serves up another Featured Album of the Week. Tune in to the XPN Morning Show every Monday as Mike reviews another great CD.

Join WXPN and Receive the Current Featured Album of the Week
The current Featured Album of the Week is available as a thank you gift when you become a member of WXPN. Join WXPN now, or renew your membership. Just select Featured Album of the Week on the "Thank You Gifts" pull-down menu, make a $75 donation, and you will receive this week's featured album. A great way to add to your music collection and help support WXPN Public Radio!

 

Sea Wolf - "Leaves in the River" (Dangerbird)

Having already seen these guys live a couple of times, I can attest to the fact that Sea Wolf is a tremendous live act (go see them if you get a chance - you will not be disappointed). On their debut album Leaves In The River, many of the same attributes that make them so interesting live (tension, interesting instrumentation, intensity, etc.) make this a very, very good debut album.

I keep saying "they", but everything I read says that this band is the creation of one Alex Brown Church, and the band is a "vehicle" for his stories and songwriting ideas. If that is indeed the case, he's done a tremendous job in recruiting the right musicians to do the job, because the band performs wonderfully live and on the record. Leaves In The River has sort of a large, epic, Waterboys-esque vibe - the music almost begs one to listen and consider carefully. Songs like "You're A Wolf", "Middle Distance Runner" and the wonderfully creepy "Song For The Dead" all lead this listener to conclude that they very well may be hearing the start of something great in Sea Wolf.

Leaves In The River combines rich instrumentation with quirky, thoughtful lyrics and melodies, and deserves a place in you music library.

Written by Dan Reed

Click here to see the complete list of WXPN Featured Albums.