“But, – and there it is, – we want to live and move, though we have no reason to, because it happens that it is the nature of life to live and move, to want to live and move. If it were not for this, life would be dead. It is because of this life that is in you that you dream of your immortality.” – Wolf Larsen. From The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London.

As much as I try to fight it, the cold is slowly starting to seep into the crevices of the East coast, and with the change of the seasons comes a change of soundtracks.  One band that has stepped up to my ‘Fall Zero Nine’ playlist challenge so far is Los Angeles’ Sea Wolf.  My boy Ad Rock and I had the good fortune of seeing the Wolf in action at Mercury Lounge (”Home of the best Stella draft in town” - Ad Rock) in NYC recently, and it’s fair to say that the tunes emanating from Houston St. were a perfect complement to the fall air hugging the city that night.  Lush, harmonious and orchestral at times, the live show represented the sound listeners can expect to find on Sea Wolf’s sophomore effort, White Water, White Bloom.

Head wolf in charge, Alex Brown Church has said that fans of Leaves in the River (the group’s first effort) “can expect a bit more of a “band” feeling from the record, and a bit more energy [than Leaves],” and the man speaketh the truth.  White Water is musically fuller than it’s predecessor and tends to season Church’s earnest yearnings with helpings of pianos, organs, flutes, cellos and violins, oh my.  That’s not to say that ABC’s voice is drowned out by a cacophony of sonic forces - instead it serves as the perfect foil to the waves of melody provided by his bandmates, and always shines through as instrumento numero uno. The album’s opener, “Wicked Blood” does a good job of introducing the world to the bigger, badder Wolf, while “Turn the Dirt Over” finds Mr. Church’s amblings sparring with a mandolin in a folksy fight for the ages….or at least the 3 minutes the song lasts.  I also included the title track from Sea Wolf’s first album, Leaves in the River, for you to rootsy-rock out to, a song that Ad Rock simply explained to me ‘is the Fall’.  Sea Wolf: Train Tested. Muffin Approved.

Sea Wolf - Wicked Blood

Sea Wolf - Turn The Dirt Over

Sea Wolf - Leaves in the River

White Water, White Bloom is out NOW and is available at Amazon, iTunes and wherever good music is sold!