Josiah Wolf, Jet Lag Review

Josiah Wolf, Jet Lag [anticon.]

Reviewed by: Cooper Foyt

Josiah Wolf is a better person than you. This is a fact that you should grasp before listening to this album, otherwise it tends to be alienating. Jet Lag, Josiah’s first solo album, is an account of his separation with his significant other of 11 years. No surprise there, most music made is about heartbreak over some girl or guy, often times coming in equal parts sentimentality, frustration, and regret. But here’s the difference with Josiah that sets him apart from the inundated fodder of singer-songwriters with their hearts on their sleeves: he is eternally optimistic and impossibly dedicated. Or that’s at least how he presents himself on this album.

For most of his career, Josiah Wolf plays drums for the group WHY? with his brother Yoni Wolf. While most of the neurotic lyricism and nasal-channeled voice has been left to his sibling, the emotive drumming has, thankfully, been carried over to Jet Lag. The burst of drums is probably the first thing you’ll notice on the sleepy opener “The Trailer and the Truck”. Tumultuously breaking up the swaying horns and blinking percussion, it’s a great representation of the out of nowhere break-up that is a part of so many relationships. And when Josiah’s earnest, straining voice sweeps in to fill a momentary void, it’s one of the more breathtaking moments of the album.

For the next few songs, Josiah seems to recover from the emotional load spent in the first track, with the fragile “Master Cleanse (California)” and Badly Drawn Boy-esque “The Opposite of Breathing”. The former is exactly what the title implies, a desire to purge all things California, while the latter finds Josiah struggling to move on in any real terms. Both songs are bittersweet as far as lyrics go, but they also retain a sense of hope throughout; something rarely heard outside of Arcade Fire songs in the realm of indie.

“The New Car” is an especially painful song, where Josiah describes a scene surrounding a trip to a dealership with his ex and the ways that clean breaks from people are never really made. The vulnerability present in the song reaches its high point when he sings “But when you told me that I wasted your 20s/I didn’t know what to say” which strains on the back of a tense snare roll into the release of the chorus “Come back to me in the day”. It’s a song that fires on all cylinders, where voice, lyrics, and instruments are all working in harmony for a vivid scene and you can’t help but feel for the guy.

This continues on through “The Apart Meant” which gets more mileage out of the play on words than you would think. The song also marks the first darker melody of the album and a sense that you can’t possibly hope to be irrevocably hopeful at all times. Over thumping drums and a broken carousel organ Josiah sounds defeated when he sings “Unused ‘I love you’s/Build up in my throat/And my apartment smells like divorce”. The moment is short lived, however, as his positivism is revived on the next track, the bubbly “That Kind of Man”. And then it’s this same song that offers us a possible insight into what could be Josiah not revealing the whole truth. In an album where he gives himself an almost saint-like patience, the line “Do you ever tell little lies/When explaining a dream?” is a winking admission.

Unfortunately this quality songwriting doesn’t span across the entire album. “Is the Body Hung” feels aimless in its darker tones and the lyrics fail to connect on the “plain-spoken/heavy-with-implication” level and instead tosses out awkward lines such as “I just need some time/Away from this race/We drank the best wine/Now we’re walking in place”. The same can be said with “Gravity Defied” when he delivers the clunky “What is your name, is it Sadness?/You shave off all my reasons/Right down to the bone”. Fortunately these mishaps are heavily outweighed by many off-handedly brilliant lines that never feel overwrought, and even “Gravity Defied” is saved by lyrical gems which lead into a swirling mess of oscillating guitars and drum rolls. Nevertheless there is still a lot of room for improved songwriting which is sure to come on a sophomoric effort.

But throughout all of the depressing scenes and intense feelings of longing present on the album, Josiah remains a solid center of patience and dedication. The patience is tangible in the way the album unfolds. There are no big hooks here, no breakdowns, and no gimmicks being employed to get his point across. All he offers are 12 impassioned songs of pure human feeling on album he recorded in virtual secrecy from everyone else in his life. The private origins really shine through and add a sense of sincerity that prevents any of the songs from becoming groan-worthy. It’s intentionally slow because the man who made it is naturally tempered, but this only makes for a more rewarding experience as the songs unfurl themselves over several listens. A definite grower and a strong first showing from Josiah Wolf; he has created an album that endears and teaches, one that entertains and challenges us all to be better people.

Rating: 80%