The Double Headed Seagulls – Play Artful – EP Review

Full disclosure…even though this would technically be my first time reviewing the music of The Double Headed Seagulls, it would be far from the first time I’ve reviewed the music of the man behind it all, Mr. Dave Wirth.  While it’s not something that comes across my desk each and every day, I’ve technically been listening to his music in a variety of forms since sleepingbagstudios was about a year & a half old, and I’ve genuinely cherished it for just as long.  Whether it’s been writing about or playing it on the ol’ SBS Podcast – this dude has been making music that’s been on my personal soundtrack for quite some time now, and I’m grateful for that.  Dave’s also what you’d call a proud, perpetual student of his craft, and one of those folks that’s always looking to be hit where it hurts when it comes to the feedback I provide.  Which, to be fair, you regular readers know that no one directly needs to ask for – I always say what I want to say, however I wanna say…always have, always will.  It just so happens that I tend to enjoy what this dude does for the most part, so he’s generally escaped my wrath throughout the years.  I think it’s basically crazy that this is the third project name I’ve reviewed his music under, which doesn’t count his solo work…so that’s four names you’ve gotta know in order to be able to track him down online and THAT is insane in today’s world for sure…but sound-wise, he’s always created stuff I’ve been interested in and that remains to be true here in the case of The Double Headed Seagulls.  What’s more true than anything else dear readers, dear friends, is that there can be no mistakes when there are no rules.  Sure things will or won’t be accessible based on the decisions someone makes in how they go about creating this or that…but that’s really all there is to comment on when you do your own thing.

So here goes anyway Dave…hope this helps.

With the warm digital glow of “Full Oxford” starting out the EP, I immediately felt like this was going to work out well for The Double Headed Seagulls in its debut.  The low-end that enters into the peaceful serenity is more than noticeable to the point where I suppose a few listeners might find it to be a little jarring when it first shows up, but I think that after you give “Full Oxford” a spin or two, you welcome it.  You’ll spend the opening two minutes in this strange sound-bath of sorts, which essentially serves as the audible amuse-bouche, before The Double Headed Seagulls begins to expand this first idea in the most delightful of ways as you head past the two minute mark into modulating frequencies and malleable sound.  You get the sense that change is coming, which will be welcome for those that were getting a little antsy I suppose.  Honestly, to me, “Full Oxford” felt akin to hearing a great story unfold – I don’t want anyone to rush those situations, so personally I was more than pleased to listen to the opening couple of minutes help build this song’s character and establish its presence.  That being said, hearing how it goes on to morph itself anew was absolutely fantastic…that’s when I guess you’d feel like it was almost difficult to go backwards from there.  Thankfully, that’s not how time, or songs work…we move forward, and the adventure of “Full Oxford” continued to get more and more interesting as it played.  As you trip into its third minute, it’s like you’ve become untethered to float around blissfully in the ether.  When that low-end comes back in minute four, it’s like the warm hug you always wanted to get, and it envelops you entirely as the music supplies a series of enchanting complements along the way.  It all feels new, exploratory, and absolutely beautiful…and by the time it ends, you’ll wish it would never stop.  The amount of work that’s been put in to make this opening song flow so fluidly is absolutely staggering.

What do they call those things in school…when you’re like…supposed to be familiar with something before you dive into something else…or like…at least it helps?  Prerequisites?  Is that the word I’m looking for?  The press release gives you insights into the inspirations for a lot of what you’ll hear on this EP…stuff like Brian Eno, Radiohead, and Four Tet for example…all names I’m intensely familiar with and have celebrated throughout the years on my own playlists over here.  Four Tet alone probably managed to shift my entire musical palette at one point in time long ago.  Anyhow.  I wouldn’t say you NEED to know all those names in order to enjoy what The Double Headed Seagulls is creating – but yes, it helps.  As I listened to the cleverly interlaced percussion of the record’s title track, “Play Artful,” it was like I could hear how each of those influences played a role in paving the way for The Double Headed Seagulls to exist today.  “Play Artful” feels playful…like reconnecting with the joy of discovery and what that’s like to experience when you’re listening to music.  It’s not a moment to take things too seriously, you know what I mean?  Don’t mistake that for a lack of craft…that’s not at all what I’m saying.  What I think I’m getting at more than anything else, is that the music of Mr. Wirth has often come with the weight of heavy emotional elements to it, and there’s something about “Play Artful” that really feels like he was much more focused on just having a moment where he could leave all that behind for a minute or two.  And heck – couldn’t we ALL stand to feel that way for a bit?  When I started to think about it, I wanted to make “Play Artful” my personal anthem for the year…a direct affront to all the bullshit we’ve all been forced to endure through the corruption & erosion of our politics in the modern era.  “Play Artful” gives you the opportunity to close your eyes and reconnect with simpler times, where the joys of finding new music you love, the beauty of the sun above, and the potential of every day was as exciting as it has ever been.  We might not be able to physically go back there anymore, but songs like this can transport you.

You want raw honesty Mr. Wirth?  Here’s some for ya – what’s the point of doing ANYTHING for a minute and twenty-six seconds?  Not just music…I’m talking ANYTHING in life, though I’m more than fine with declaring I’ve always been at war with shorter songs.  I certainly understand all too well what their place in today’s society would be with our ever-disappearing attention spans & all…but I kinda feel like it’s our collective job to rebel against that.  Now…do I like what there is to be heard on “One Pot Screamer?”  Sure!  Does that mean I’m in favor of its appearance in this lineup?  No!  Though to be clear, I’m not ever going to be completely opposed to hearing something I enjoy, no matter how short it is.  Plenty of those influential names we pointed out earlier on in this review all have shorter tracks of their own…it’s a thing…don’t get me wrong, I’m just complaining like an old man on the porch yelling at the state of the world.  Even “Play Artful” was like, right on the borderline of what I’d consider to be a worthwhile venture.  I mean…you should SEE some of the effort that folks like Dave pour into the making of “One Pot Screamer!”  You’d likely assume that a shorter song directly equates to having to spend a whole lot less time twisting dials and knobs to get everything where it needs to be, but more often than not, they’ll end up spending more time in pursuit of perfecting something that’s even shorter than the male orgasm…and that ain’t right, is it?  Shouldn’t we want music to be longer than that?  Shouldn’t it have taken you longer to listen to “One Pot Screamer” than it just did to read about it here?  No issues with what I’m hearing…production-wise, it sounds good…but at 1:26 in total length, it’s also really damn hard to argue that there’s anything so significant to be found here that it’d bring you running back for another repeat too.  “One Pot Screamer” is a quality cut for the length it provides I guess – that’s about the most I can say to support it, and even that seems like it’s as positive as I can be.  As I’ve said many times in the past, if song-length is all you’ve left a critic to pick on, you’re doin’ A-OK.

Alright…rant over…I think I got that outta my system…for now.  “Doss Money” is the final track on The Double Headed Seagulls Play Artful EP, and I’d say this is likely more representative of what I assumed the record would have sounded like, long before I pushed play.  “Doss Money” is like a somewhat logical progression from where we left off with Dave Wirth’s solo music…so this kinda makes sense to me and my ears.  That being said, I think “Doss Money” is probably the most mood-dependent track on the EP, as in, it might not always be the track you’re looking to listen to the most in this particular set of songs.  Again, I’m not opposed to it, and I’d argue that after about four minutes of floating around in a bubble, you finally land with a minute & change left to spare that will reveal all the most significant highlights that there are to be found within “Doss Money” – but overall, I enjoyed it.  This is one of those sit up close and listen, textural & sensory types of songs for the most part…bending notes, resonance and such…more based on how the music moves you, as opposed to the music itself moving in a more tangible way, if that makes any sense to ya.  We’re not so far off the deep end that “Doss Money” would play like a Robert Fripp experiment into Frippertronics, whereby he’ll play one note and let it ring for a half hour while he fiddles with the knobs and dials…nothing that extreme here at all.  I’d probably argue that “Doss Money” is more like what it’s like to hear the art of evolution in real time.  I’m not suggesting that it’s not rehearsed or doesn’t move with purpose – I absolutely think it checks both of those boxes.  I suppose what I’m saying is that “Doss Money” feels gradual and organic, once again unfolding like a great story does, without feeling like it needs to gloss over any chapters along the way.  And while like those great stories we know of, this final cut saves its largest doses of potency and impact for its last act, “Doss Money” ends up developing at a pace that takes a surgeon’s precision & patience, and delivers a conclusion to this EP that will certainly stimulate the curiosity required for you to want to spin it again.

Spotify this EP by The Double Headed Seagulls, or check it out at Apple Music by following this link here:  https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/thedoubleheadedseagulls/play-artful

Through fifteen-plus minutes of saturated ambient textures, Wicked Cities From A Distance disseminates a comprehensive and dynamically intense soundscape on "Lodern", a sprawling single replete with sustained distortions and drones of celestial frequencies. WCFAD is the work of USA-based musician Dave Wirth, and this impressive single is released by the Austin, Texas-label Fire, Fire, Red Star Down! It creates a warm environment for the listener, but not an unchallenging one, lightly pressing at the seams of its semiliquid constitution with colourful flourishes. 

I’m still pinching myself that Bandcamp’s editors took a listen!

Chilling ambient music with mournful tones and barren textures, perfect to score and abandoned cityscape.

Queen City Sounds just gave Evil Gima a wonderful review:

One has to imagine that Evil Gima conceived of the song and video for “IT/AM” in some sort of creative tandem. The sounds themselves suggest spaciousness and texture like the snow and water droplets depicted in the video. The piano figure drifts while plinks of metallic sounds like processed windchimes or stringed instrument plucking and slowly resolving drones convey a languid atmosphere. It’s like the analog of natural processes unfolding like the accumulation of snow depicted in the video as it forms and melts into water and fills into ponds then evaporates and the cycle begins again. It’s a little like an orchestral piece Anthony Braxton might have written around the turn of the 70s if he had access to a robust electronic palette of sounds. That organic improvisational way of arranging noises in abstract, conceptual fashion that made him a rebel then and a style outside orthodox music making that ambient music and abstract free jazz aficionados appreciate now.

Pulling disparate threads of sonic traditions, Evil Gima creates a cinematic experience with the audiovisual project “IT/AM”. In the Jorge Martinez directed video for “IT/AM” the trailing melodies of Evil Gima’s forlorn piano arc across an alive sound palate of evolving drones and mechanical, almost bird-like musicbox percussion. Fans of dark ambient or deconstructed neo-classical music will find a lot in “IT/AM” and Evil Gima’s work to sink into.

(The full review)

The Shikes – Aggression – EP Review

Dave Wirth, my man, you have certainly kept us all guessing as to what the heck it is you’re gonna do next over the years, and every time we run into your music again, you’ve completely gone & thrown yourself into a whole new dimension of your art, and all of us out here listening for a loop in the process!  You beautiful man you – surprise is easily one of the best things about music bar-none to begin with, but Wirth good sir, you always seem to find a way to take it to the limits and do a full 180-degree turn around from what we think we might know, and stun is all over again with something entirely new & unique, totally different from anything we’ve heard from ya before.  That’s a true gift folks.

Mind you, we don’t cross paths nearly enough to ever truly keep me satisfied – I will ALWAYS want MORE from this brilliant musical-mind…but I’m also certainly mighty thankful whenever this dude shows up with new tunes, and that this shape-shifter continues to excel in his craft overall, no matter what moniker he’s choosing to go by these days.  Amazing how time flies and how much can change in that same span – I originally met Dave through an interview across the internet for his old band Sprightly Moans, published here on our site back on Christmas of 2013.  How is it even possible it was that long ago already?  Incredible.  I probably had a whole lot less grey in my beard back then, but alas, surely still had this face made for radio attached to my neck as well.  Anyhow!  The history between us continued on throughout the years – I reviewed the Sprightly Moans Demos III EP long ago – and to be truthful, it still carries one of my absolute favorite songs he’s ever written, a balled called “Love Is Nothing Without Eternity.”  It’s a song so etched into my brain & heart that I can recall its melody any time I choose to; that’s pulling it all the way back from seven years ago, from March of 2014 when I reviewed Demos III.

Then the dude seemed to disappear for a moment or two there.  Though I’d continue to celebrate this guy’s incredible music through the SBS Podcast when it was being redesigned in 2016, it still wasn’t until the next year afterwards that we’d hear from Dave again with some new tunes in 2017 after being away from us for nearly four years!  He came back inspired with a totally different direction than we’d heard him from the Sprightly Moans stuff, and dropped a sweet set of instrumental tunes on his self-titled album Flutters at the beginning of January, before lighting-up the amplifiers for a quick two-song EP called The Big Heavy towards the end of 2017 while he was still rocking under his own name solo.  And then dammit, wouldn’t you know it – somehow, someway, this guy managed to hide himself away for yet another nearly four years from us.  It’s a lot of history that’s actually packed into a fairly compressed amount of time…you know how it goes out there music-scene, you strike while the iron is hot, as they say, and when that inspiration hits, let’s be real here – that’s exactly when you’re all (well, SOME of you) out there doin’ your thing and being the most active on your pages & promo & whatnot.  It’s only natural that some time is gonna pass between us all between this time & the next whenever we cross paths with any of you…but I dunnnnnnno Daver – I might just have to declare that four years is four too long after hearing this new EP by The Shikes.

This is madness.  This is chaos.  This is freakin’ SPARTA in the form of audibly digitalized mayhem!

And it WILL be a battle for many…at least to start.  Don’t panic!  You are going to feel like you’ve been strapped in for a ride you’re not ready for as “It’s Gone A Spring Song” starts…and that’s okay, it’s gonna be natural to feel that way, be cool man-dude/lady-friend, be cool.  Just breathe through it, hold a yoga pose, or do whatever you gotta do to calm yourself from imploding, because if you miss out on the savage badassery of this song kickin’ in once you get past the sheer insanity of its Technicolor intro, you’re only doing your own ears a disservice & nothing more.  I’m not even remotely kidding about the jarring effect the very beginning will have on ALL of you…that’s RIGHT, I said ALL, as in EACH and EVERY last one of you out there listening – you will be shocked at the amount of sound coming through your speakers when you push play on “It’s Gone A Spring Song.”  As I mentioned earlier, this beard of mine’s got plenty of grey in it these days now…I’ve been around for a while, and heard a record or two throughout that time…and there are few that I could name, if any, that’ll punch your brain so squarely as this will straight away.  It’s so akin to that feeling you get when you’re walking out of a movie theater (remember those?) in the middle of the afternoon sun & squinting & trying your best to simply focus in on your way forward – “It’s Gone A Spring Song” will attempt to completely blind your ears in the same way through an intentional onslaught & overload of sensory sound that WILL take you a spin or two to adjust to, and that’s completely by design.  The Shikes draw an audible sand instantly with this first cut and how it’s revealed – you’ve either got the stones to be able to hang with this level of intensity and all-out madness in music, or ya don’t – and I suspect there’s no one out there that knows where that line is better than Dave, nor anyone so willing to cross it into a new realm of their own innovative creativity.   Assuming you SURVIVE the first twenty five seconds without your best friends trying to snuggle you into a nice new white coat with very suspiciously long sleeves – you should in theory, find the rest to follow equally mind-blowing, just for a whole set of different reasons is all.  Heading right into a barrage of gripping Indie-Folk/Alt-Rock – “It’s Gone A Spring Song” starts ripping along with the subtle intensity of the Foos when they’re right in the thick of the melody, or later in in the chilled grooves of QOTSA, and with all the electrifying rawness & realness that both bands put into the earlier tunes of their career.  From the enormity of the drums, to the stellar harmonies that show up, to the incredible way that Wirth sings this song – everything stacks up to a vicious win through powerfully wicked sound coming atcha mercilessly from its very beginning to its amped-up final moments.  If it seems like I’m going on forever about this first tune it’s because the effort & uniqueness warrant the words – this is how you CRUSH an opening and make an experience 100% memorable in just about every conceivable way I can think of.

<a href="https://firefireredstardown.bandcamp.com/album/aggression">Aggression by The Shikes</a>

“Sit, Think, Make, Say, Do.”  “Person, Woman, Man, Camera, TV.”  See Dave?  I can do it too bro.

Okay – to be fair, he’s not exactly trying to perform a cognitive test here, so much as just come up with a clever title to represent this 1984-tinged second tune of three on The Shikes Aggression EP.  I absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this song.  Admittedly, Dave doesn’t punch us so hard in the face on our way in through the door of this cut, allowing a much more subtle groove to guide him along while he demonstrates a mastery of melody & his well-crafted, multi-layered, poetic lyricism.  In the words of “Sit, Think, Make, Say, Do” is where you’ll find no quarter is spared or punches are pulled; his lyrics may be short, they may be brief, but make no mistake, what he’s written here is highly effective and the way what he sings will cling to your bones afterwards only proves just how much of an impact The Shikes make with this track.  Ultimately, this is one devious little tune that packs in a ton of thought-provoking words into the short span of less-than three minutes of time…and it’s addictive melody & chorus is likely one you’ll be shocked to find yourself singing later on around the house.  It’s oddly uplifting, which is probably a direct correlation resulting from it sounding so damn good, but the further you dig into the words, the more grittiness you’ll find darkening the sunshiny sound below the surface.  Wildly interpretive as well – chances are, listeners are going to come to all kinds of conclusions as to what this song is really all about, but at the same time, there’s no denying how much they’ll love it even if they don’t fully understand it, or even attempt to.  The Shikes give you the opportunity to sing along here; whether you want to grapple with the full weight of WHAT you’re singing about, remains your choice as it always does.  If you ask me, “Sit, Think, Make, Say, Do” reminds me a ton of Beirut from right around the…what was it…the March Of The Zapotec era where he started blending analog & digital ideas together, and retained the classic golden-era melody in the sweetness of his voice to pair with it – Dave’s digging into a similar mix here, and the results are absolutely stellar – this is pure audible gold.

I am honestly fucking ecstatic about what I hear on this record, pardon the ol’ language folks – but that’s the reality here – uniqueness is by far the most alluring aspect of music all-around, and The Shikes have displayed nothing but throughout all three tunes.  Like, the closest you’re going to get to something you’d be able to call more straightforward or accessible is going to be the final cut at the end, “Trouble At The Heart Of Spring” – and if this is straightforward to you, believe me when I say, you and I can be friends.  All I’m saying is that in terms of linear listening and the average everyday listener out there, chances are, this last cut is the smoother gateway into The Shikes without blowing their minds with too much wildness in one dose.  In many ways actually, you could look at a track like “Trouble At The Heart Of Spring” as being that lost step that never occurred in the Radiohead catalog between something like Amnesiac and what eventually became The King Of Limbs…somewhere in between there, they’d have been proud to rock a multi-dimensional groove like this one without question.  If it comes RIGHT down to it, I’ll concede that there’s probably more chance of the melody in the chorus of “Sit, Think, Make, Say, Do” being the ultimate hook & gateway for the people out there into this record, but considering its more dicey language & its many possible interpretations, I’d be inclined to go with the reliable groove he’s rockin’ on “Trouble At The Heart Of Spring” as the most likely candidate to represent the record.  What I truly DON’T think, is that the man can lose with any choice he’d make – any of these songs should make a thunderous impact as they land onto your playlists & find a permanent place to reside.  What you’ll hear on the Aggression EP is genuinely EXCITING – it has that authentically feeling of heading straight into the unknown, and you honestly can’t even place a value on just how incredible it is to listen to something like this record, filled with material that you’d never be able to remotely predict.

I almost hate to say it because four years away is so freakin’ long…but I’ll be damned if this wasn’t 100% well worth waiting for Mr. Wirth – you’ve absolutely outdone yourself in every possible way with these three cuts on The Shikes Aggression EP and created a sonic madness I am more than proud to stand behind, in front of, side by side & hand-in-hand with…you get the idea, I’m gonna listen to this forever.

Find music by The Shikes and other projects Dave Wirth is in at the Fire, Fire, Red Star Down! label’s page at Bandcamp right here:  https://firefireredstardown.bandcamp.com