Wildernesses are a post-rock/shoegaze band from the UK and this is their debut album.
Growth is a 44-minute record that brings together post-rock and shoegaze into a something unexpectedly special. The music of Wildernesses is detailed and textured, offering a vision of post-rock to the listener that’s intimate and graceful. It incorporates the shimmering beauty of shoegaze and the vitality of alternative rock, making for music that has many tools at its disposal.
Growth is a collection of stories told with cinematic quality, while retaining a close personal feel that’s affecting. The album benefits from a heart of emotional depth that pumps oxygen-rich life to all parts of the music. The songs are expressive, painting vivid pictures that are awash with emotive strokes.
Unlike much post-rock, Growth is not an instrumental album, although two out of the nine of the tracks are. The singer’s voice is very capable and charismatic, providing a focal point to music that doesn’t necessarily need it, but that benefits from it regardless.
Growth is a record that’s remarkable in its ability to weave together narrative, atmosphere, and feeling. The songs are well-crafted as a result. They have been pieced together with care and devotion, which is reflected in the record’s overall impact and effectiveness. This is music to lose yourself in over time, absorbing a very particular kind of darkness and melancholy that’s universal in nature. Beauty, sadness, hope, despair, endings, renewal – it’s all here, and more. This is an album that is fragile and delicate, yet carries within itself a core of steel resolve. Growth is a musical exploration of the human condition that’s unexpectedly well-rendered and realistic.
Wildernesses’ first album is one to spend some quality time with. Growth is a first-class exemplar of expressive, emotive, well-rounded rock music.
Wonderbox Metal 