Dr. Wolf

Dr. Wolf is a Detroit-based duo with two new singles that sound nothing alike, and that's the intent. Henry Johns (vocals/guitar/drums) and Nick Sapounas (vocals/synth/drums) have been friends (and musical collaborators) for a long time, and together they've been fusing their imaginative approaches to arrangements and coiling the spectrum of limiting genres like a twizzler, in hopes of snapping it back into a broader wavelength. Both musicians come from equitably adventurous bands like gray/bliss and Warehouse. These two tunes are sort of a preview of more to come from Dr. Wolf in the year ahead, and I'm excited to premiere them.



"Came So Easy" is a guitar-centrc glide and shimmy, drawing in new wave Johnny Marr-ish staccato style and syrupy reverb spilled over the dream-pop crooning vocals. Wavy and wobbly psychedelic effects furl around the solo bridging the second and third choruses, but the spacey weirdness pares back for those crispy surfy tones to come in and carry you through. The drums are snappy and mighty enough to accommodate what you'd expect to be a "rock song," but they're mixed measuredly into the recording so as not to overpower anything else--a fine balance. But then those spacey guitars come back in, a new pedal creating a shimmering sheen over the tones as we fly out of orbit...

And then "Acceptance" gently slides into slow-motion. The beats evoke a heart-beat, the drones feel like deep breathes, a modulated tone curves and purrs and then the ethereal vocals waft around you like a stray ribbon in a chill breeze. You lock in to the beat and you can almost feel the tension being extracted from your muscles, from your aura even. It's a slow, slllooowww rock, a sweet and meditative sway. The guitars pare back for accentuations at the corners of each measure while the beat, the winding whirr of the synths and those stretchy vocal notes repose resplendently from one beat to the next. They're giving you 6 minutes a piece with each of these tracks, and "Acceptance," just like "Came So Easy," grows into so many different motifs and allows for myriad mesmerizing sounds to manifest...

Put some headphones on.... Dr. Wolf want to expand the avenues of sound and expression...and maybe along the way they can expand your mind, too.


More Info

Dr. Wolf's Next show

Dr. Wolf's bandcamp