On Bella Union and avilable now.

Lone Wolf began life in 2009 in various dusty rooms and tape studios around Sweden, songs and ideas slowly coming together through the eyes of singer and guitarist Paul Marshall and the ears of Kristofer Jonson from Jeniferever. After a month of various field recordings, sneaking into concert halls late at night to use the piano, setting up their gear in small village churches, and other places they could find, the basic album tracks were done. Paul brought all the recordings back home to England in September and together with James from Duels, started on the final stages of mixing the album. Band members include Lins Wilson from Grammatics, along with James and Jon from Duels and Napoleon the 3rd.

There are some great records that take a little while to fully reveal themselves, or it may just be that the reviewer is just not in the right mindset/mood to fully appreciate what he/she is hearing. Lone Wolf’s THE DEVIL AND I is one such record. That’s not to say that it’s opening gambit ‘This Is War’ doesn’t immediatelky grab the attention… It does, via a gorgeous opening multi-layered vocal, relentless medium pace and some spellbinding brass passages. There’s also melody to-burn, beautiful and moving lyrics and a momentum that builds throughout - in summary a song that Simon & Garfunkel would have recorded if they were still going strong in 2010.

So, several weeks and listens later the rest of the record has wound its way into my heart and head - big-time. ‘Keep Your Eyes On The Road’ is a guide track, to the whole album with its srong modern folk vibe, magical vocal harmonies and finely judged, subtle instrumental backdrop. But it holds a few surprises too, including it’s building, rocky crescendo that appears at the back-end of the song. ‘We Could Use Your Blood’ opens with flowing acoustic guitar chords and is stripped-down to its lovely vocal and insrumental essentials. Again there are some moving solo instrumental passages and a gentle, fluid vocal which sways with expression and emotion. Beautiful. There’s sonic diversity here too with the darker bass vibe of the fast-flowing ‘Buried Beneath The Tiles’ and ‘15 Letters.’ ‘The Devil An I (Part 1)’ slows pace with piano leading off in ‘fairytale in Paris’ fashion in what is a superb instrumental interlude with violins, cello and drums eventually adding their mournful voices. Superb!

‘Russian Winter’ then jacks up the pace a tad and meanders along like a stream swelled with raindrops. ‘Soldiers’ again changes tack with a military drum rhythm dominating the darkest song here and made all the more dramatic by swooning backing vocals that sound like angels mourning death throes. This song reminds me of some of My Latest Novel’s greatest moments, and is magnificent. I love records that start with a bang and end with a bang. ‘The Devil And I (Part 2)’ ends the album in epic style (after the penultimate and deeply moving ‘Dead River’). Glacially paced  piano notes along with a taking-style vocal introduce the song, before the pace and soundstage begins to pick up weight and drama in no uncertain way. Once again instruments plough a dark and lonely furrow with ocean-deep drum beats pounding away below piano notes before finally being left alone to end this glorious musical passage.

THE DEVIL AND I is a record that needs and deserves time to fully appreciate its beauty and emotional endeavour. The song-writing and production are peerless, while Marshall’s vocals are a revelation. This is an essential album, and sure to figure strongly in our 2010 best-of-year list.

4.5/5