Archie Bronson Outfit get loud on “Wild Crush”

by Eric Smale

On Wild Crush, Archie Bronson Outfit‘s first album since 2010’s Coconut, the band stays true to their retro garage rock roots – well, mostly. In place of the DFA-infused electro elements that popped up on their last album, this album reaches into more familiar territory, incorporating elements of roots rock and folk into the band’s fuzz-drenched sound. By far the most glaring new addition to the band’s sonic palette is a saxophone, which squawks and squeals its way through nearly every song on the record. It’s a daring move for a band whose sound is otherwise defined by a pretty specific era and aesthetic; but when it works, it works well, adding a chaotic, freeform element to their brand of blues-y garage rock.

One of the highlights in this respect is album opener, “Two Doves On A Lake”, a fast, retro-leaning track that sounds like Black Sabbath filtered through the lens of krautrock pioneers, Neu!. Hiding in the fuzz, a mellotron whirs under Arp Cleveland’s insistent beat and Sam Windett’s nervous, strained warble. But it’s not until it all breaks for the album’s first solo – wild splatters of wah noise and avant-jazz sax over that same regimented beat – that Archie Bronson Outfit really start to channel something special.

Most of Wild Crush hangs somewhere between this kind of ’70s rock riffage and more accessible songcraft. A good example is the new single, “We Are Floating”, which grafts a roots-y Neil Young riff to a cowbell-punctuated groove. Another highlight, “Love To Pin You Down”, is a mournful tune with a motorik beat slowed down to a super-saturated crawl. But where Wild Crush really shines is when the band isn’t afraid to sprawl out and let their noisier inclinations do the talking, as on “Cluster Up & Hover”, a swampy, repetitive jam with churning guitars and bleeping synths. Here, the interplay between Windett’s guitars and the aforementioned sax lends itself to some desperate, blissful rock ‘n roll.

Other songs on the album are more streamlined, like the jaunty Britpop psych of “In White Relief” or the tuneful folk-rock of “Glory, Sweat and Flow”, but these act as some melodic relief from the album’s noisier moments, which admittedly don’t always push the envelope as far as they could. With the exception of the confusing closing track, “Country Miles”, where the sax seems to fight against the song, the album is too short and concise for any one thing to overstay its welcome.

All said, Archie Bronson Outfit have settled on a well-defined style on Wild Crush, and it’s one that fans of blues-driven indie rock are sure to enjoy.