Wow, Owls! – Pick Your Patterns / 2005 The Perpetual Motion Machine / 9 Tracks / http://www.myspace.com/wowowls / Reviewed 16 December 2005

While individuals will be apt to give the screamo tag to Wow, Owls, this is really where hardcore should be going as a genre. Tempestuous arrangements bolster screamed-out vocals, never giving individuals a chance to breathe. Hell, with the effort of the band during tracks like “Your New Favorite Song”, rock should take some of Wow, Owls’ fire and run with it. In a sense, the bold guitar style that takes such a audible role in Wow, Owls! music is not quite unlike Tom Morello’s work during eir time with Rage Against The Machine. Aside from an aural similarity between the two guitar styles, there is little else to connect the two bands.

For example, there is little to connect the general audience of music video or radio stations with Wow, Owls!, unless the listeners can get a chance to hear the melodramatic emotions put forth during “I’ll Be Your Huckleberry”. “I’ll Be Your Huckleberry” connects to the more abstract forms of music just as it takes on very accessible forms; the spontaneity achieved during the track is something that is not paralleled on the disc. “Destination: Pizza” varies Wow, Owls! sound yet again in that the complicated arrangements of previous tracks are largely discarded for a straight-forward approach. This straight-forward approach allows the individual band members to shine, specifically the bassist, whose bass line during the track gives chills in its detail.; A multiple set of vocals during the track also gives the band a more complete sound than any found on the rest of the disc. Couple this with an almost-martial set of drums to end the track and there is something that everyone can get into during this track.

Ending well before the disc’s runtime hits thirty minutes, what Wow, Owls! does during “Pick Your Patterns” is the musical equivalent of a surgical strike. There is little room for error on this disc, and the band goes even further beyond that to come up with a furious, tempered album that maintains accessibility with high levels of musical talent. Something that Wow, Owls! give to music as a whole has to be an increased of vocal harmony; while there already is a type of harmony being given by the instruments on the track, the layering of a second strain of armony by the vocalist is something that really gives the band a different sound. Quick and dirty, Wow, Owls! is a labelless band that deserves more accolade due to their visionary outlook on music.

Top: Saccharine For My Sweetie, I’ll Be Your Huckleberry

Rating: 5.9/10

[JMcQ]