Patrick Wolf Album: “The Bachelor”

I've found all of Patrick Wolf's albums to be inconsistent, but this one is easily my favorite. It took a while to grow on me - in fact this started as a three-star review, and I yanked it at rewrote it as I became more fond of the album. Some of the songs are just incredible: "The Bachelor" is stunning and is my favorite Wolf song to date, and "Damaris", "Who Will" and "Theseus" are especially great too. On the other hand, "Battle" is pretty terrible, and a couple other songs don't match the strength of the album's best tracks. But as a whole, it's great, and actually exceeds my expectations for Wolf. Very well done.

Patrick Wolf is a moody fellow. It's almost torture to follow his progress of making a new album, since his whims are constantly changing. Like local weather patterns, there's no concrete way to predict how Patrick will be feeling on any given day.

Globally, though, Patrick seems to demonstrate some predictable shifts. His first album, "Lycanthropy," was an exciting blend of the dark and the dancey, the melancholy and the melodic. It was also an unabashed claim for the attention of the music world. Alas, it was only a cult hit, and so his follow-up record, "The Wind in the Wires" turned into an insular, brooding opus that wore the artist's frustrations on its sleeve. The music was still great, but one gets the feeling that our narcissistic pop genius was being a tad melodramatic. From the title cut: "This wild electricity, turned static by industry, like a bird in an aviary..."

Then, with "The Magic Position," his ambitions came back. He once again fused his dark sensibilities with danceable beats and hummable melodies, and added just enough sugar and sunlight to make some of us think he might become a star after all. Alas, it didn't happen. Patrick was still ignored in America, and he wasn't happy about that.

Which brings us to this album, "The Bachelor." We all knew this was going to be a largely negative album, for that's what the climate patterns seemed to indicate. Patrick was originally describing this as an aggressive, fully electronic record. It was to be named "Battles," and would largely feature collaborations with Atari Teenage Riot's Alec Empire. To me, that sounded pretty promising.

Unfortunately, his local moods shifted a bit...again. Concepts changed, titles changed, album lengths changed. And sounds changed. Only one song on the Bachelor actually lives up to the concept of the original Battles album--the glorious death disco anthem, "Vulture." The negative moods are definitely there: the brooding, self-absorbed Patrick is back in full force: railing against mediocrity, battling against warmongering, and sulking in his luxurious solitude.

Most of the songs are very strong, despite the banal insularity of their lyrics. The main problem with the album is its production. Patrick's excessive use of dramatic strings and choirs here rob the album of an honest emotional pull, not to mention a much needed immediacy and vitality. The ramshackle energy of Vulture recalls past Wolf greats like "The Childcatcher" and "Tristan," but, sadly, this energy is the exception for the Bachelor, and not the rule. His recklessly impulsive nature usually leads to thrilling results. But here, his last minute shift in sound actually served to dilute the force of his art, and what was to be his grand rite of catharsis ends up sounding masturbatory without any satisfaction of a climax. Just an aimless stroking of his wounded ego.

...Which is not to say that I dislike the Bachelor. Patrick Wolf's got a gift for making music, and these songs are mostly great. But it is nonetheless disappointing. I almost wish that he, in a fit of sudden dissatisfaction, decided to re-record or remix the Bachelor to suit his old Battles approach.

But that won't happen. At best, I can just hope that its follow-up is more wild and electric than this comparatively static affair. It will likely be more upbeat and catchy, as such a change is in keeping with his emotional climate patterns. He's currently talking this new one up as "happy, pornographic music," drawing from Motown and disco. But who knows, maybe he'll decide that an album of Captain & Teneille songs played on steel drums and banjo will be a better way to reflect his mood this time around.

Patrick Wolf is a busy bee. When he is not beating boyfriends on stage he is witnessing street fair performances or crafting albums geared to surpass the conventional. The past two years have shaped his creative bulb into a different creature, thus not long ago he announced his desire to make a double album where he could pour all his recent experiences. Luckily he decided to alleviate the burden and chose to split the project in two parts, of which The Bachelor is the first and Conqueror the second, to see the light in 2010.

His precocious musical training thrust him into the spotlight with the poignant debut Lycanthropy (2003)where he talked about isolation, sexual awakening and coming of age. It was Wind in the wires with the extraordinary singles Tristan and The libertine that turned the critics' heads and made him an artist to watch. This second album was cemented deeply in his Cornish and Irish roots, giving his fascination for local legends and bohemian life a taste of grounded honesty. The magic position would be the one to take him beyond the circle of cult reviewers and to the ears of the entire world. Its eponymous single was ubiquitous and lost love centered tracklist was a solid return to form.

The idea behind The Bachelor has changed as much as the labels he worked for: it went from being political to the depression he suffered during his last world tour to the vortex of emotions generated by his newfound love. When parting ways with Universal Records he made public his decision to sell the shares of the album on [...], a system that allows contributers to invest in the finishing and production of the album at the same time that they get a share of it, "almost like being a co-owner" he said. The effort paid off because after many turns the release date was finally set for June 1st.

Faithful to his taste for impressive intros Kriespel gives cue to Hard times, in my opinion of the finest singles released so far this year, with its contrasting electro beats and exquisite violin among cries for change. He delivers one of his best vocal performances without much fanfare.

The bachelor is the song that most reminds of the Lycanthropy era. Paired with powerful Eliza Carthy Wolf's voice falls slightly behind, but they both sail swiftly on a piano-based melody that depicts the imaginary life of a farmer and his wife. Damaris is a perfect example of a successful attempt at epic. The song is perfection from beginning to end and every instrument converges to the climatic finale where the choir chants "rise up" much to the listener's delight.

If he sins of anything it is from crowding songs that would have sounded great otherwise. By insisting on multiple layers of vocals and arrangements he crosses the fine line of good taste into excess: by the time The sun is often out comes on the trick under the sleeve that a children's choir was in the first track has lost its appeal and one wishes he would forget it for good.

Another evident flaw is the hidden meaning of most of the songs. Take Vulture and its S&M themed lyrics and video for instance, if it wasn't for Wolf explaining it in interviews no one would ever guess it is about his experience with a satanist in California.

The spoken word contribution of actress Tilda Swindon fits appropriately in some tracks, like Marianne Faithful did in Magpie, but when used merely to repeat Wolf's sung verses becomes a tiresome resource that should have been avoided altogether.

Some have already dismissed him as an egomaniac seeking to touch the stars too soon, while others see him as one of the few remaining hopes for the future of British music. Personal behavior aside Patrick Wolf has paid his dues and even though he could use some tweaking his robust voice (young Morrissey anyone?)and still inventive songwriting skills speak for themselves. The Bachelor may sound overpowering and non-cohesive on a back-to-back play but we have yet to see what awaits on its second installment. For now the craving has been satisfied with a splendid reminder of what tragedy and redemption can do for inspiration.

I all of Patrick's work, but something about the songs in this album is especially intriguing. The emotion in these songs are breathtaking. I don't know how else to describe it. Each song is like a story with a beginning, middle, and end; so much more than just a catchy chorus and a few fun verses. I heartily recommend this album.