Patrick Wolf - House

Patrick Wolf came to us as with his debut ‘Lycanthropy’, an ‘arty’ album of folktronica, in 2003. It was littered with dark and surreal themes, gender dysphoria and paedophilia to name a couple. All in a day’s work for Wolf.

‘House’ is, admittedly, a whole different kettle of fish. Gone are the frenetic, pulsating beats, which flit in and out of spacey string arrangements. Instead we have lyrics about, well, love. Eww. Okay but the music is still good right? Sure, if cheery euro-ballads are your bag then there is plenty here for you. But otherwise, I’m afraid I have to advise avoiding.

Fair play to Wolf for falling in love and making a happy ditty about it, but where’s the oddness? Where’s the folk? Where’s the glitch? All are absent. It seems Wolf has aged as gracelessly as the term ‘folktronica’ itself.