“50’s” MP3
from the album Fold in the Wind
2011
iTunes
It might be the bitter side of life that Rey Villalobos likes, but unlike this refrain in the final minute of House of Wolves’ opening song “50’s,” it’s his sense of sparse, majestic beauty that instead lies within the group’s forthcoming debut album, Fold in the Wind.
House of Wolves, the solo vehicle for Los Angeles songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Villalobos, is a significant sonic departure from the orchestral indie rock of his primary band, The Coral Sea, instead embracing a spare, haunting folk aesthetic. For that matter, no one is going to confuse House of Wolves with their more electronically inclined counterparts who fall under the wide umbrella of indie folk. Instead, it’s Villalobos’s measured pop sensibilities and the album’s organic beauty that makes Fold in the Wind such a stunning, cinematic collection of songs.
Relying on little more than acoustic guitar, piano, percussion, and the occasional horn motif, the songs that comprise Fold in the Wind smolder in deliberate fashion with an intimacy rarely experienced outside of live performance. Villalobos’s voice takes on a soothing, almost feminine quality that captures the essence of the gentle acoustic melodies. But the subtlety of the arrangements is perhaps the album’s most underrated and rewarding attribute. There are few artistic or emotional extremes here — just top-shelf, evocative songwriting that deepens with each successive listen.
Although the album doesn’t attempt to stray very far musically, the individual songs stand out in remarkable fashion. The tone-setting torch song “50’s” drips with nostalgia and breathless melancholy, while “There She Goes” is reminiscent of The Velvet Underground at their most reflective. But Fold in the Wind truly hits its stride in the middle of the album: the beautiful ballad “Follow Me,” the title track’s hypnotic chants, and the near perfect folk of “Roses in the Nordic Country” follow consecutively and are nothing short of a tour de force. The closest Fold in the Wind comes to a misstep is the second to last song “Waves,” which seems to lack the intangible spark that imbues the rest of the record.
It’s yet to be seen if House of Wolves will be a permanent side band for Villalobos or a one-off project to be swept away by the return of The Coral Sea. Regardless of the project’s future, Fold in the Wind is a true gem with songs that sit in stark contrast to the programmed synthesizers and drum machines that have become so ubiquitous in the recent musical landscape. This is an album that demands your patience, but it’s a patience that will be richly rewarded.