09.20.13 — “Golden Twin” by Wild Ones

Wild Ones

If you only listen to one song today, make it “Golden Twin” by Wild Ones (2013, from the album Keep it Safe)

Wild Ones is a synth-y/indie-pop sextet from Portland, Oregon. Despite almost calling it quits, they released their debut album this July, and are about to embark on a western-US mini-tour. During that tour, they’ll play a few dates with fellow Portlanders and This is That Song alumni Typhoon.

The band formed in 2010, and they’ve always they’ve always insisted on being very egalitarian and very DIY. They had already been working on the Keep it Safe songs for a long time when things started to go a bit pear-shaped. One guitarist had a blown eardrum. Their original drummer quit the band, and their new one suffered a punctured lung. They had already spent a lot of time, energy, and money on the album, and they were running out of those things quickly. Instead of giving up, though, they pressed on and ended up releasing a pretty remarkable album.

I had never heard of Wild Ones until I got something in the mail bag this morning about their song “From Nothing”, which is being featured over at spin.com. Before I could even click over there, and before I could even get a glance at the press photo, and before I could get a look at the video they sent, I jumped to the conclusion that I would like this band. They’re going to tour with Typhoon, so that’s good enough for me. And my prejudgment wasn’t off the mark.

The music is good enough on its own, but the thing that sells Wild Ones for me is the sweet voice of Danielle Sullivan. She’s somewhere between the wonderful Amy Millan and the equally wonderful Delores O’Riordan (The Cranberries).

After I listened to today’s song a bunch of times, I bought an album download from their bandcamp page. The rest of the album is also quite good. I just like this one a whole lot.

This is that song.. f
“Golden Twin” by Wild Ones

While the mildly synth-y vibes remind me of the fun, synth-y vibes on the Stars album The North, it’s never too much synth. As much as I really want to like CHVRCHES, there’s just too much synth for my liking in that band. That’s not a problem here.

There’s a lot that I like about this song. If I can find anything at all to complain about, it’s that this is the first song on the album. The way I keep mashing the “back” button, it doesn’t give any of the of the songs a chance.

For extra credit, check out the video for the song

Wild Ones – Golden twin from Calvin Waterman on Vimeo.

Buy your digital copy of Keep it Safe from bandcamp. You can also buy a limited edition white vinyl copy the band’s web store.