Wendy Rule 06

Wendy Rule is a sensual, evocative singer who hails from Melbourne. Her albums are strongly rooted in pagan belief. Her latest is album is Wolf Sky, distributed by Shock. Wolf Sky review At first listen, Wolf Sky sounds like much of Rule’s previous albums. Then you turn the volume up, hit Half Life and feel the hairs rise on the back of the neck. The production on Wolf Sky is perhaps the most accomplished yet and Rule’s songcraft benefits immensely. Backing vocals, regular cellist Rachel Samuel’s atmospheric stringwork given its deserved emphasis, the solid underpinning of percussion and bass, the flourishes of trumpet and flutes: all work to provide a lush landscape for the listener. Wisely, however, the studio has not dominated the work. Rule’s great strength is her range, from earthy whispers to exultant highs, and her voice is given the space it needs here. The album, building on the superb predecessor The Lotus Eaters, is a sign of continuing if gradual evolution. Touches of funk on Oblivion, the haunting cello and piano on The Fall, didgeridoo on the sparse She Danced Alone Upon the Waves, a voodoo jazz undertone to Creator Destroyer, flamenco guitar on Firehorse: all show Rule building on her well-worn songcraft to take it up another level. Even tunes like Firehorse which seem to fall back on her established song patterns benefit from this added instrumentation, creating depth and atmosphere lacking on previous efforts without being overwhelming. Lyrically, the album is typical Wendy Rule: she forecasts the overthrow of civilisation by nature, glories in mythology, laments lost love, confronts the cycle of life and death. The interchange of upbeat tunes with slow, sparse tracks prevents the album from gaining momentum, but taken song by song, it is a thrilling journey which rewards return visits. Wendy Rule's homepage