Billy Wylder Wants Us to Hear the “Roar of the Wild” (premiere)

American singer-songwriter Avi Salloway’s Billy Wylder will issue their new album, Strike the Match on September 7. The recording spotlights Salloway’s penchant for creating songs that sound impossibly up-to-minute while remaining steeped in tradition. The gentle acoustic rhythms of “Roar of the Wild” marry brilliantly with sweet vocal harmonies and string lines that reach far beyond what we’ve come to expect from freak folk and its progeny. Predictably, the influences heard here are not all the standard fare for contemporary musicians, there are sounds that, in the space of this song sweep the globe all while convincing the listener to listen to their own hearts. Strike the Match features appearances from vocalist Bridget Kearney as well as drummer Jeremy Gustin (Albert Hammond Jr, Rubblebucket) on drums.

With an eye toward social justice and an ear toward the world, Salloway’s Billy Wylder seems destined to turn a few ears of their own.