PictureWire Train: Jeff Trott, Brian Macleod, Kevin Hunter and Anders Rundblad
I think the third Wire Train album is a bit of a mixed bag. It is definitely the sound of a band, with all four permanent members in the recording studio together for the first time, as well as a band trying to solidify its musical identity without becoming hackneyed. It’s also the sound of a band at odds with its record label (Ten Women would be the band’s last release on 415/Columbia) and you know how distracting and unproductive that can become. With Kurt Herr and his chiming guitar gone, the ringing, ethereal sound that made the first two albums so enjoyable for me, underwent a serious musical makeover. Kevin Hunter was still writing “passionate and oblique, almost stream of conscious lyrics (although nothing as entertaining as the likes of “I will make a horse’s head of all your friends…”), but in a different musical context that took longer to grow on me than its predecessors. In essence, Wire Train was somewhere in these new songs—you could hear fleeting hints of their sound, but it was evolving into something different and possibly even more dimensional than the signature Wire Train sound I had fallen in love with. The more I listened though, the more I liked what I heard: a new musical direction, a decision to stretch and try something new. Basically the band was growing up. I’m sure there’s a great story behind the LP’s title and the ten songs that appear on it — maybe even ten great stories that I hope I have the chance to ask Kevin about some day. The Wire Train love-fest continues with “She’s Got You” from the album Ten Women. Anyone care to slow dance?