Wunderhorse – Midas

Label: Communion
Released: 30th August 2024

‘Midas’ is the definition of rough and ready. Created in a phone-free studio where listening to Beatles vinyls was a focal point of recalibration and inspiration, what’s captured is a certain upfront rawness and authenticity that not many are able to achieve. The album makes no apologies and it’s not meant to be perfect – the fact that the opening title track is a ‘rough’ first-take that the band didn’t even know was going to be used, speaks for itself. 

Listening to the album, it feels like you’re right in that studio with them. You can’t over-analyse each individual musical layer, you’re forced to listen to it in the same way it was created: as an unfiltered wall of sound. ‘Emily’’s riffs are infectious, and the cool tremolos and epic soaring guitars in ‘Arizona’ and ‘July’ make for buzzing tracks. It’s hard not to feel moved by Slater’s voice in ‘Superman’, a song about feeling misunderstood and underestimated – its lilting instrumentals, its uncomplicated rawness, reflects the candid and relatable lyrical content and makes for a cathartic listen. 9-minute-long closer ‘Aeroplane’ is similar in its simplicity. It’s a lovely song – its acoustic-led melody rounding off the record, leaving behind a feeling of bittersweet introspection.

No fakery exists on this album. Instead, what you’re met with on ‘Midas’ is the sound of a confident, unpretentious, nonchalantly cool, energetic, live band – which is what Wunderhorse is.