Wild Ones #2 - Hold On, We're Going Home

Facebook / wild-1s.com

Because I pay precisely no interest in the charts and national radio I'd not heard this song before, the chances are (the original does have 32 million plays on YouTube) you probably have. "Hold On, We're Going Home" is by Drake who I'm guessing in a US pop-rap act (I tried to listen to his version but after a minute no music had come on and I got bored) and I'm here because Wild Ones have decided to make the track their first cover version.

I posted about the Portland quintet last month (head here for that post) and their version transfers the same smoldering indie-pop catchiness to this Danielle Sullivan has this beautiful, easy on the ear vocal that flutters softly over a bed of shimmering guitar, skittering percussion and heavenly guitars - if I didn't already know it was a massive pop hit I'd probably be proclaiming this as the future...

Wild One's debut album Keep It Safe is available from Bandcamp now.

Wild Ones - New Music "Introducing"

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Another of those ridiculously overdue posts coming up now. Portland's Wild Ones came to my attention through their heart-melting "Golden Twin" over the summer but for some reason lost to time I never got around to posting it then and soon promptly managed to forget about all the band until I came across a new video for their track "From Nothing" the other day.

The band released their debut album Keep It Safe via Party Damage Records back in July (available on digital/vinyl via Bandcamp) and perhaps it's the sparkling indie-pop melodies or the sumptuous, butterfly-soft vocals of Danielle Sullivan but I'm instantly drawing comparisons to Leeds finest Just Handshakes. "Golden Twin" opens the album and is the perfect place to kick off this post, alive and kicking with a bright and fresh honesty which fills much of the album as stuttering electronics, sun-kissed guitars combine with those aforementioned vocals guaranteed to send hearts a flutter.

Both "From Nothing and "It's Real" are equally swoonsome as rhythmic guitars shimmer with nostalgia-inducing dreams and "Lion Heart" gives another example of the sweet and refreshing sound of the album. I don't normally quote other people here but there's a line on bandcamp by someone who has purchased the album that I think suits as the perfect summation. Every track bleeds loveliness... the vocals, the synths, the instrumentals; a lot of good going on here.

I've included a stunning live video of the title track below, stripped bare and restrained it sends shivers down your spine as twinkling piano chords become the focus of the track. Danielle's vocals remain soft whispers accompanied by a backing choir whom remain equally sedate. When guitar and a wash of electronics join in half way through the track threatens to explode but it never does, remaining the perfectly example of intimate beauty.