Wolf Eyes — No Answer-Lower Floors

Wolf Eyes return with their new umpteenth millionth album, entitled No Answers: Lower Floors. Arguably, noise’s most recognizable group, Wolf Eyes has remained amazingly consistent with their output over the years. I’ve always had a soft spot for the group, being the first live noise act I ever had the chance to witness...on tour with Sonic Youth no less. It was pretty precious to see the looks of recoil on many of the attendees’ faces, likely expecting some local indie rock openers for the legendary SY. Even as they lost some of their fans with their Sub Pop debut (the calls of jumping the shark were not surprising), I’ve greatly enjoyed their later material. Would No Answers continue that streak?

While having common ground with some of their later day releases, most notably Human Animal and Always Wrong, No Answers: Lower Floors has a surprisingly “musical” vibe going for it. At times it almost sounds rock based, albeit deformed and mangled, but it’s penchant for instrumentation is apparent. It also shows, much more restraint than I’ve been accustomed to in the past. That said, it’s still a “Wolf Eyes” record, and you can smell their stench on every aspect of these 6 tracks.
 

The album’s intro track Choking Flies, is a mingling of throbbing percussive beats and winding serpentine synths. It’s largely built on a repetition of sounds and Nate Young’s sung/spoken vocal work. The following track Born Liar, channels some mangled sounding 60’s styled guitar noodling along with a repetitive drum beat. There’s a lot of feedback and other noisy artifacts thrown into the mix, but the track sounds surprisingly straightforward. No Answer is a quick little ditty, over in just under 1 and ½ minutes. Imagine recording someone speaking and then chopping it up to the point where you can’t make out anything that person is saying. Add some well-placed repetitive synth beeps and you have No Answer.
 

The second half of the album contains the meatier tracks. While the second track had a bit of 60’s psychedelic vibe, track 4 Chattering Lead could almost pass for an 80’s film score. If you collided the film scores of Risky Business and Fright Night and had Nate Young sing over them, you get a surprisingly close approximation of this track. That might sound like a strange reference point, but it surprisingly fits. The penultimate track, Confession of the Informer is a confluence of unsettling stringed instruments and minimal, repetitive percussion. The twelve and a half minute track is truly frightening from beginning to end. At times the stringed instrument (violin?) is struck in a way that mimics the sound of a saw cutting, mixed with some horns and eerie vocals, it truly is the “cinema of the unsettling.” The album ends with Warning Sign. By far the most sonically jarring track on the album, it is a repetitive see-saw of dense electronic stabs.
 

While not my favorite Wolf Eyes record (that being Dread) it’s still solid and offers a slightly more rock based approach than I’ve heard in the past. However, after 16 years and still going, I admire the different approach. As long they don’t completely drop the dread, in favor of the discotech, Wolf Eyes will continue to hold a special place in my heart.