Anyone who can give us a debut album as good as the eponymous Wolf Country has here is definitely someone whose subsequent career should, and indeed will, be studied closely. But no need to worry too much about what comes next; this excellent album is going to be enough to tie you over for a long time to come.
Alexa Economos, the artist behind it, explores, among other things, themes of womanhood, love, spirituality, generational grief, and the wild feminine archetype. As a vehicle for this, perhaps not a concept album but indeed an album of interlinked concepts, she turns the mythical landscape found in Clarissa Pinkola Estés’ Women Who Run with the Wolves into a truly captivating folktronic soundscape.
“Good People” gently sets the tone, opening with an almost purist folk sound embellished with only the slightest additional layers, a drifting electric guitar, and a few distant sonics, and that is it. By the time we get to “Wolf in Country Linens,” the music is rawer, driven by a more rock-infused weight, but the vocals never cease to be airy, ethereal, and captivating.
“Good Witch” wanders the sort of indie grounds that you could easily find, say, *Sharron Van Etten” moving through. “Taking It Off” is a lilting, lovely, pop-folk waltz, beauty and understament dancing together in delicate tones, and “Howling At The Moon” is floating, gorgeous, and unforgettable! It is an album forged of delicate finger-style guitars and distant, buzzing electric chords, delicate beeds and washes of analogue beats, it is a blend of folk traditions and forward thinking creativity, an analog past and a digital future.
The only criticism I would have is that, having set such a high sonic benchmark for herself right out the gate, Alexa Economos as Wolf Country has made life difficult for herself, but that only makes what might follow so exciting, and on the strength of this debut, I have no doubt she is up to the job.
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