WMSE Presents Owls
2496 South Wentworth Avenue
Milwaukee, WI 53207
USA
“Essentially Cap’n Jazz minus Davey Von Bohlen, Owls released their first and only album in 2001, a Steve Albini-produced set of oblong guitar figures,
off-kilter vocal hooks, and exploratory rhythms that occasionally sounded like their previous incarnation at half speed. After the band dissolved a year later,
drummer Mike Kinsella would focus on his acoustic, confessional solo project Owen, whereas vocalist and brother Tim would continue to pursue some of indie
rock’s most arcane and abstract lyrical and compositional ideas in Joan of Arc. So Owls remained an intensely loved and inscrutable anomaly in the Kinsella-graphy
that can often appear to the outsider as nothing but intensely loved and inscrutable anomalies.
After nearly 18 months of quiet reconvening, Owls have returned with a new record, Two (out March 25 via Polyvinyl); despite the 13-year gap, they pick up right
where “Holy Fucking Ghost“ ended. First single “I’m Surprised…” proves that Owls are defined by what the lesser heralded pair of Victor Villareal and Sam Zurick
do in between Tim’s piecemeal commentary, as both the riffs and vocals acknowledge their seemingly incompatible fit by locking into surprisingly hypnotic grooves
of call-and-response interplay. The Kinsellas are acknowledged as a daunting influence on just about any band tagged with the word “emo”, and in three and a half minutes,
“I’m Surprised…” sums up why that is.” – Pitchfork