I really wanted to write that Columbus band WV White got their name from the documentary the Wonderful Whites of West Virginia. But I just read an interview with band in Agit Reader that stated they took their name from a butterfly. I am using that as an intro just so we both know the first idea that comes to mind when you read their name, and new album title West Virginia White is a wrong assumption.
I also wanted to write they are a Dustin White tribute band but that is not true either. WV White’s self-titled album on Anyway Records starts off with “Angela Lapper, Pregnant,” the title of which does reference the Marc Quin Sculpture of the limbless British artist who was featured in the 2012 Summer Paralympics opening ceremony.
But it is not an inspirational “Wind Beneath My Wings” type track, nor is it a strange acrotomophilia love song. It clambers out with gazey, lazy guitars which lead to synths and drums that lay the backdrop for a man to sing a song of bereft love.
Towards the end of the song, slightly-muted guitar parts repeat at points which adds strength and completes the song, which could be about the sad beauty of a person stripped of their devices and persevering.
Track two is called “Ford Mustang,” but it sounds like they are singing about a Rav4.
Track three, “Macha,” takes its name from an Irish Goddess.
This song is interesting because it has two false starts. The first false start begins with the game show organs from the intro of De La Soul’s “3 Feet High and Rising.”
The second false start with the singer strumming a guitar, and bellows out in an late 90s slacker-ish voice, “You Never Loved Me/Until You Thought I Hate You/ But I Don’t.” He stops for a second, and utters an expletive and then pauses for a restart after the claps from “3 Feet High and Rising” subside.
The song regroups with the the same lyric which leads to the singer’s explanation over a peppy drum pace and optimistic melody.
Track four, “Cockroaches,” is a piano ballad seemingly about the possible hazards in life and fears.
I need to save some room for the Psychic Wheels review so I will just say that West Virginia White’s album is a great mixture of Pavement, shoegaze, jangle pop with emo-elements.
Another Columbus release that has gazey, fuzzy guitars is the Psychic Wheels' new album, Peripheral Drift out on Superdreamer Records. Psychic Wheels are more of the Jesus and Mary Chain meets garage persuasion than Pavement-y- noise pop of WV White.
“Pyromaniac Lover” starts the record off with a hazy thump and sorta sounds like if Creation
Records released a Social Distortion type band.
“Woman” has an uptempo urgency, so I am assuming it’s about wanting to have sex with a woman.
“Flowers In My Skull,” the dreamy “Please Don’t” and “On A Beach” enter a late 60s Psychedelic-pop realm.
“Rock N Roll Love” brings back the stomp and makes a pretty cool weird noise for a second and then returns to stomp. I think it’s about smoking reefer and then going to the record store with a significant other. I am not sure if implies sex in the bathroom.
There are male and female voices layered over each other on “Rock N Roll Love.”“Always (I Love You)” sounds kind of like the Velvet Underground if Lou Reed had sung Nico’s parts.
“Superdreamer” has a lot of noise on it. I am assuming it has something to do with the owning a record label, because the singer, Spencer Morgan, owns the the label that put this record out and the name of the label is Superdreamer.
“Spinning Records” is about playing records and being in love all the time. I have no idea if this has something to do with the Heatwave Dance party at Ace of Cups, seeing that Adam Scoppa is in this band, and he plays records at Heatwave.
“Your Anatomy” is a happy romp about wanting to romp. “Yo baby I like your lips. Let’s see the hips.”
The Psychic Wheels album ends with a ballad called “Crying Girls” about women who like men who don’t treat them well and act in a socially unacceptable manner.
In summation, I would say that both WV White and Psychic Wheels are tremendously nuanced, informed and textured albums.