Carl Broemel will be a familiar name to many as a key member of
the Louisville, Kentucky quintet My Morning Jacket – joining just prior to the
group’s breakout LP, Z. Wished Out is Broemel’s third solo outing since 2010
and it continues his explorations of slightly wistful rock structures, which
sometimes tap directly into the southern indie rock tropes of the early/mid
‘80s, and at other times seem more influenced by the sounds and styles that
emerged out of California in the early ‘70s. Either way, Broemel regularly hits
a pleasing groove.
Wished Out – arriving in a sleeve that should make us all grateful
for the resurrection of vinyl – certainly doesn’t hang around. Only 8 songs in
35 minutes, it’s hardly a magnum opus, and its charms are consequently fleeting,
though most music players come with a repeat button, and with 3 of the 8 songs
clocking in at over 5 minutes, there’s plenty for the listener to get their
teeth into.
The first of them is the title track, and it plays to all Broemel’s
strengths. Fabulous musicianship throughout and a vocal hook that’s so sweet it
reminds me a little of classic period Karl Wallinger/World Party, before winding
up with a subtly fluid guitar solo that parries and lunges for the best part of
2 minutes – just great! It’s followed by the gentle psychedelia of ‘Malibu
Shadow’ and then a more direct pop song, the ultra hooky ‘Starting From Scratch’.
The LP ends with the ambitious, multi-faceted ‘Out Of Reach’ – a song
of many parts, that never quite settles into any of them, though it packs (and delivers) a
multitude of musical punches along the way.
Rollo
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