News Wolf Feet

It’s difficult to know whether to feel exciting or depressed about having to find out about the most exciting new bands in your area through the medium of the internet. Whilst a past age would have seen the band have to play the local scene to death in order to gain any kind of recognition, it seems that the majority of decent acts now simply opt to stick a few songs and a couple of homemade jpegs online and wait for the crowds to find them – and, to be fair, it’s working for them. Wolf Feet are the latest Manchester band to pop up out of nowhere and offer the city something different, even the contribution is largely digital at the moment.

Pretty much any kind of music now is derivative of something that has gone before – fellow city dwellers WU LYF have taken the vocals of Caleb Folowill in the throes of a sore throat and slowed down the backing band behind him, whilst Mazes have distilled the garage rock of their youth into something slick and instinctive. Wolf Feet doesn’t look much further than what came last year – from the first bars of EP opener Dead Hand, it’s difficult to shake the sense that The Drums are looming large over this, the pop laden take on surf obviously informing the work.

The fact remains that, regardless of influence, this is a two piece who have skill and guile – other efforts on the three track release might not quite be as catchy, but there are glimmers of light sneaking between the cracks, and the duo have an inarguable ear for a melody and the craft to put together a decent song. They might not quite be the cream of the city’s current crop, but there’s enough to know that, once they do start playing a gig or two, the demand will come from far beyond the boundaries of this rainy city.