15 February 2020

DIRE WOLVES – I Just Wasn’t Made For These Set Times 2020 (LP Centripetal Force)

With a fresh memory of their June 2019 release “Grow Towards The Light” (reminder: No 1 Album in our TOP 50 List of 2019) and with their eclectic transcendental mix of superior improvised spiritualized free-form musical pieces still in my head, Dire Wolves are throwing in the market another “wax” just to keep the waters “shaken”! The press release notes: “Centripetal Force is proud to announce the vinyl release of “I Just Wasn’t Made For These Set Times”, the new album from Dire Wolves (Just Exactly Perfect Sisters Band). Recorded during the same prodigious session that produced 2018’s Paradisiacal Mind (Cardinal Fuzz / Feeding Tube) and 2019’s Grow Toward the Light (Beyond Beyond is Beyond), this most recent dive into the Dire Wolves archive continues to demonstrate the band’s propensity for improvisation, as well as the ability to transport the listener’s consciousness with their meditative vibes. Previously only available on Dire Wolves’ 2019 European tour as part of a 50 cassette run on the Ruralfaune label”.

The album contains just 4 tracks, 2 on each side. The musicians involved here are Jeffrey Alexander on Guitar, Moog, Wooden Sax, Brian Lucas on Bass (he did the lovely artwork too), Sheila Bosco on Drums and Percussion, Arjun Mendiratta on Violin and Georgia Carbone on Voices. It kicks off with “Myriads” (12:14), it moves to the same hallucinogenic peaceful musical pattern of the band only this time the scenery is a little bit let-loose. Of course, the music here is improvised, extremely trippy that gives you the sense of an invisible Force canalizing vast amounts of Cosmic Energy to the atmosphere while the Great Shaman with the wordless vocals is calling All Spirits out of their lethargy to join the celebration… The soft violin sound on “Deep Sunrise Energy” (8:19) blends with the other instruments causing a Proggy feeling with a warm sound while the band is slowly unfolding a fantastic mystical lysergic musical motive, it’s like a ’69 groovy jamming of The Dead with an ecstatic Stacia dancing naked… Side B starts with “Circle Of Friths” (11:32), improvised and quite experimental becoming kind of scary at times, it’s like a sacred litany that welcomes us into the Insane Asylum, what a Mystagogy! The last one is “(Brother Lee) Womblife Blues” (9:19), the equilateral triangle of guitar-violin-vocals transports the listener with a magical way outside the Cuckoo’s nest, where the Sun and the Moon are now One! Divinely Beautiful! TimeLord Michalis