Patric Wolf - Wind In the Wires

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I first heard this album in high school and was instantly hooked. I was getting into gypsy stuff and a friend gave me this cd. When I first heard "Libertine" with its crazy synthetic noises mixed with piano, violin, horse hooves and god knows what else, I just had to close my eyes and let it seep into my soul. For real. My soul. Lyrically, he's not fantastic, but his musical techniques are flawless.
"Wind in the Wires" is quite different than his much less refined, more dissonant first album, "Lycanthropy." His most recent album, "The Magic Position" is pretty good overall, but doesn't have the continuity and wholeness that "Wind in the Wires" does.
Each song on the album follows perfectly from the previous one. This is one of those albums where you can't just listen to one song. It gets off to an intense and dark start with "The Libertine" and maintains the darkness without cheesing out too hard. The climax comes when Patrick screams, "My name is Tristan, and I am alive!" The finale "Land's End" is a seven minute, two part closer that invites you to celebrate, then crashes your hopes against the rocks of "The Shadow Seas."

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