Sea Wolf preview

Sea Wolf
Schubas, Chicago
Saturday, October 13, 2007

To revive a particularly crude analogy, a college friend of mine once speculated his girlfriend’s roommate had a mouth like a “velvet purse.” At odds with this theory was the girl in question was not so plush and silky.

I might need psychotherapy, but I am reminded of this because of Sea Wolf’s debut, Leaves In The River (Dangerbird). The band’s principal member, Alex Brown Church, doesn’t always have the most uplifting things to say, but encases his lyrics in a comforting musicality. The lullaby tone of the title track teases with a scene colliding Halloween, death, and lust. “Winter Windows” and its palpable urgency come from an accordion in the lead, yet leans toward surrender by moaning “This is the world we live in/It’s not the one I’d choose but it’s the one we’re given.” “You’re A Wolf,” which first appeared this spring on the standout Get To The River Before It Runs Too Low EP, suddenly has more than enough context for its repeated warning, “The one that you are looking for/You’re not going to find her here.”

If there’s a drawback to Leaves, Church is occasionally too detached and calm to sound like he’s part of the proceedings. “The Cold, The Dark & The Silence” begs for a more caustic vocal delivery, and if he ever tries to close a set with “The Rose Captain” his laptop’s cricket din might be joined by the real thing. Otherwise, welcome to the velvet purse.

A Place to Bury Strangers, Retribution Gospel Choir, and The Shaky Hands open. Sea Wolf return to Schubas October 20th to open for Nada Surf.

— Steve Forstneger

Category: Stage Buzz, Weekly