London boy Patrick Wolf returns after a summer of festival appearances with his latest EP, Brumalia. The word itself is the name of the Roman winter festival celebrating the shortest day of the year and the EP lives up to it's title with a pleasantly wintery sound that is completely appropriate for its late-November release.
Patrick's back catalogue ranges from slow, romantic songs to tracks with a more electric, poppier feel to them. This EP has elements of both but overall the album has quite a dark feel to it and is a little reminiscent of his earlier albums. The opening track, Bitten, would be a very dark song if it wasn't for Patrick's lovely voice warming it right through. Then on the poppier side of things you have the single Together, a soaring pop song off Wolf's previous album Lupercalia which went down a storm at festivals over the summer.
Things start to get interesting towards the end of the EP with Wolf using less traditional instrumentation and utilising some interesting ideas. The track Jerusalem is an adaptation of a William Blake poem, of whom Patrick and Patti Smith (who took the photos for the EP's artwork) are both big fans. The following track, Nemoralia, uses soundbites of the London riots from the news in an almost percussive way. At first this track did seem a little difficult to listen to but it's interesting and it grew on me.
All of the tracks are very well put together, the instrumentation is excellent and makes the tracks really interesting to listen to. Although it really is Wolf's voice that's the log fire buring at the heart of this seasonal EP. The chorus of the final track Trust is just beautiful. The whole thing, like a lot of Wolf's work, feels very personal and that, coupled with his powerful voice, has a very strong effect.
Overall the EP has a very nice feel to it, which isn't usually the case with EPs. This isn't seven tracks cobbled together between albums, this is a well thought out winter EP and it is just lovely.
NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
We don't run any advertising! Our editorial content is solely funded by lovely people like yourself using Stereoboard's listings when buying tickets for live events. To keep supporting us, next time you're looking for concert, festival, sport or theatre tickets, please search for "Stereoboard". It costs you nothing, you may find a better price than the usual outlets, and save yourself from waiting in an endless queue on Friday mornings as we list ALL available sellers!
Patrick's back catalogue ranges from slow, romantic songs to tracks with a more electric, poppier feel to them. This EP has elements of both but overall the album has quite a dark feel to it and is a little reminiscent of his earlier albums. The opening track, Bitten, would be a very dark song if it wasn't for Patrick's lovely voice warming it right through. Then on the poppier side of things you have the single Together, a soaring pop song off Wolf's previous album Lupercalia which went down a storm at festivals over the summer.
