Monday 2 October 2017

Mzylkypop - "When Will The Wolves Howl / Kiedy Wilki Zawyja?"

I have been passed an album by Mzylkypop, an outlet for the the work of Michael Ward (Floy Joy, Was (Not Was), Alison Moyet). Having listened to it a few times now (it's still playing.. again..), I wrote some reflections.
"When Will The Wolves Howl" is a concept piece set in the future, with feet firmly in the past and present. The year is 2030 and a right-wing government are repatriating non-desirables, one might be tempted to call it a fiction were it not that it feels so close to reality.
Ward has drawn on his production knowledge from the worlds of pop and radio play to produce a work of depth and interest, taking in psychedelia, traditional Eastern European scales, the world of free jazz, and anything else he can lay his hands on. I hear The Pretty Things, Soviet Bloc folk symphonies, echoes of Aphrodite's Child, the King Crimson of 1971, and in places an air of Godley and Creme's Consequences...
No part of the album is just read off a page, it is 'performed' to within an inch of its life. Sylwia Drwal's vocals are alluring and haunting. Whilst large parts of her contribution are in Polish and, I have to say, beyond my O-Level French grasp of non-English languages, the sensual delivery conveys meaning and emotion. Every track is a journey, and one willingly taken. One is drawn in to the layers of sound, well crafted arrangements with an ear for detail - plastic organs, woodflutes, gongs, flighty cymbals, filtered basses.. oh, it's all here.
The straight ahead psyche-pop elements drive like Beefheart at his best, the more jazz elements conjure visions of beret-wearing Left Bank communes. The laments are sumptuous, and the spoken work sections full of hazard and uncertainty. The band are unfailingly tight, and the production nigh on perfect, melding fin-de-sixties mores with the fidelity of a modern studio (oh, those reverb tails are a work of art!).
This is compulsive listening. The drawing together of futurist concept, psyche-folk elements, and contemporary relevance make for a full Tralfamadorian experience (are Vonnegut references still allowed? Too pretentious? Who cares..)
For those who don't mind knowing in advance that the butler did it, this is how it ends - TV Lives

As you can see, I'd recommend it! It's due for release in the near future (not 2030..) - I'll post back when it's out :-)