Sean Grant & The Wolfgang - We Are The Children (Vandalism Begins At Home Records)

Power and poise? Muscle and melody? Grace and groove…and grit and grind? I’d say that this is a song that has it all. And anyone who can tick all those boxes while sounding like the heathen love child of My Bloody Valentine and The Sisters of Mercy is a band that you really need to keep at least one eye on. Two would be optimal.

“We Are The Children” is a song that seeks to be “a call for a generation to take ownership of the future by understanding our fundamental interconnectedness.” This statement suggests the importance of community and culture and, it taken to greater heights, reminds us that all living things are connected and that we all claim a common source. There is no us and them, there is just us.

It is also a song that could be seen as a call to take ownership of music too. By presenting something this deftly done, this unique, and yet tied to sounds and styles that have gone before, perhaps it is also saying that it is through such a sonic stand, such a return to quality over quality, substance over style, (though I’m not saying that this isn’t stylish, in fact, quite the opposite) that we can perhaps pick the music scene up off its knees once again.

But whether you see this as a rallying cry for a more empathic and understanding future for humanity and the planet as a whole, or a year zero for a new and healthier chapter of music, or both, of course, one thing can’t be denied – that in these raw and razor sharp guitars, these walls of noise, these relentless and brooding bass lines and clinical and calculated backbeats, this post-punk poignancy and gothic gorgeousness, something special is to be found. Something very special indeed.

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