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The Wyld Olde Souls

Ensoulment

(My Generation; US: 20 Apr 2011; UK: 20 Apr 2011)

Ten-year breaks don’t usually work out in bands’ favors. Either they never get back together, or they end up writing an album that sucks merely because the elongated hiatus destroyed fans’ patience. Despite a decade-long aperture, though, the Wyld Olde Souls’ managed to produce a stellar LP… their debut, in fact. That’s right, the year 2000 was the last anyone saw of the New York quintet, who put out its only EP that summer. Toss that disc out, though. Ensoulment takes the late-‘60s folk sound with which the Souls’ originally experimented and expands it even further, unveiling tunes akin to Zeppelin and the Band’s softer ballads, but adding African percussion and mandolins to create an aura that HBO’s Game of Thrones could consider for its score. Take a listen and you’ll see. The Wyld Olde Souls don’t quite have the stamina of the medieval series, but they certainly have the enchantment.

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Matt has been reviewing for PopMatters for only a short while, but he's been obsessed with music ever since he started forming memories. He watches way more TV and Netflix than he ever reads, but when he does read, he reads Bill Simmons' Grantland. He contributes to MVREMIX, as well as writes for his own blog, The-lysine-contingency.tumblr.com. He resides in Los Angeles.


Tagged as: '60s | folk | nyc | olde | sixties | souls | wyld
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