To say that Afton Wolfe’s latest album is written in the stars is both a cheap journalistic line and the absolute truth. But if you know what the title refers to, then you realise that my opening sentence is much more than a throwaway remark; it actually gets to the heart of how this album was compiled.
Ophiuchus is one of the ancient constellations, The Serpent Bearer, Asclepius, the 13th sign of the zodiac, which appeared in the sky when Zeus killed him with a thunderbolt for bringing people back from the dead. It is also Wolfe’s latest album, a 13-song cycle, each written with the relevant sign of the zodiac for the month of its birth in mind. As the sun appeared in that titular constellation on 30th November, it also marked the release of the album.
But, enough of the mystical and on to the musical and a title track that kicks things off with a bang, Wolfe’s often deft, bluesy style raised to apocalyptic heights as roots sounds become a grand, explosive anthem.
Things settle down with “I Deserve to Be Forgiven,” which follows—swapping the otherworldly for the decidedly earthbound and the grand for the grittier, a country-waltz confessional being spun around the floor to a bar-room band and a song about asking for redemption and reckoning. “Rules of War” is a brilliant piece of modern rock-roots tango, “One Million Children” also runs on some unexpected ballroom blitz, this time in the form of a gypsy-infused waltz – on amphetamine – as it delivers its anti-genocidal message and “Last King of the Blues” is a subtle, spacious and suitably ragged slice of authentic, if it aint broke don’t fix it blues.
It isn’t often that an artist delivers an album of songs all written in the last year that are good enough to be singles in their own right. There is a reason most bands release only one Best of or Greatest Hits album in their career. But it is a testament to Wolfe’s songwriting skill that he can do so. That was the mission…mission accomplished.
It also shows how he can wander through the roots-and-rock landscape, mixing and matching styles and time signatures, and turning those familiar sounds into completely new takes on established genres. Proof, if ever it were needed, that the music maker of today doesn’t need to invent new musical roads to travel; the old sonic map still has plenty of lesser-traveled blacktop to be explored.
