Wow and Flutter - Better Today Then

  by Olga Sladeckova

published: 22 / 7 / 2002

Label: Alice In Wonder
Format: CD

intro

First European release of their fourth album on French label, Alice in Wonder, for dark Portland, Oregon based post rock group, Wow and Flutter

Wow and Flutter are a 5-piece band from Portland in Oregon. The band consists of Jack on bass, baritone, guitar, keyboard, trumpet, drums and vocals; Cord on guitar, keyboard, samples, drums, percussion and vocals; Chris on drums, percussion, baritone, and keyboards; Donnie on guitar, bass, keyboards and vocals and finally Amy on cello. Since Wow and Flutter's conception in 1996 they have released 4 albums and various singles and EPs, most of them on a local Portland record label Jealous Butcher. 'Better Today Then' is their latest studio outing, and the first though French label Alice in Wonder to be given a European release Due to the rich assortment of instruments that the band uses, their music extends in countless directions. All the instruments cleverly slot together, but still manage to keep their identity seperately and to stand out beautifully. 'Better Today Then' starts off with a sharpening of all instruments. Once this initial excitement passes, the instruments gently glide into the clear tune of the first track, 'Slow Decay'. When Cord sings: "Everything seems easy when you don't have to think," the music viscerally follows him. The guitars devotedly tiptoe behind his vocals, but from time to time take over and are pushed into the lead. 'Candle a Tus', an instrumental track, evokes gloomy feelings. The band pulls the sound dramatically up but the song remains seriously dark. The guitar twangs that follow on 'Porcelain' untie your senses soothingly. The voice that appears in the song belongs to Jack. It unexpectedly appears far from the beginning, but just at the right moment. 'Confessions' benefits from using a lot of the band's instrumental stock. Finally, when the tune develops more stability after an initial period of chaos, vocals slip in. The music of this song lands in see-through layers, but the whole venture is dyed in colourful shades. 'Better Today Then' closes with 'In The Ether's Star Translumined Ice'. It is an instrumental track and, like 'Candle a Tus', elegantly stirs and mixes all its instrumentation together. 'Better Today Then' features "only" 6 of Wow and Flutter's tunes, but, as they are all long , they each give you plenty of space to fall for their unique character. Simply said, the music makes you think :"Wow !"

Track Listing:-