Every Thursday, Pop Addict presents infectious tunes from contemporary musicians across indie rock, pop, folk, electronica, and more.
Peter Wolf Crier: Garden of Arms (Jagjaguwar, 9/6/11)
Peter Wolf Crier: “Settling It Off”
[audio:http://alarm-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Peter-Wolf-Crier-Settling-It-Off.mp3|titles=Peter Wolf Crier: “Settling It Off”]There are enough two-pieces nowadays that people understand the formula can work without a full backing band — and work well. When Peter Wolf Crier, the two-man collaboration between Peter Pisano and Brian Moen, released alt-folk gem Inter-Be in 2010, it seemed to have a good handle on what it was doing. An acoustic-driven approach, sprinkled with sporadic percussion and piano, established Peter Wolf Crier as one of the year’s best-kept secrets.
But that was the problem; the band’s sound was so subdued that it often went unnoticed, and the band struggled to put its stamp on the indie-folk scene. Peter Wolf Crier ultimately had two options for its next release: create another Inter-Be-esque album and risk floundering again, or expand and experiment. Though it stands to reason that either direction may have proven fruitful, there’s no denying that Garden of Arms is a product of the second option.