In 2022, Jacob Slater was interviewed about his role playing Paul Cook of the Sex Pistols in Disney’s biopic series on the punk pioneers.
“I hope guitar music makes some sort of a comeback because that’s all the stuff that I listen to”. Well now people are listening to his guitar, and he’s pushing the comeback.
Has a decade ever lacked this much identity musically four years into it? Music is more fragmented now than ever before, the internet has led to infinite amounts of sub-genres, and it’s almost impossible to find two people with the exact same taste.
This may not be the only contributing factor however, the pandemic at the start of the decade stunted acts coming through with venues being incredibly financially vulnerable. It’s been an attack from all angles on the industry, some see the internet as a parasite to music, but for Slater, it was what allowed him to kickstart his latest project that we’d all come to know as Wunderhorse.
Slater is a character with a story, initially, he fronted the punk band Dead Pretties in London, but following their disbandment he started teaching surfing and working on his own more ‘introspective’ music as he once described.
This alongside his acting too, provides him with a real sense of maturity and confidence in himself, he’s far from naive, it feels as if he had to try his hand at everything to find out what was the right fit for him.
But what makes his current four-piece so interesting compared to other bands?
It’s rare to meet a casual Wunderhorse listener, they are the contemporary example of a cult band, their fans don’t just enjoy them, they swear by them. When looking for a root to this reaction, their debut album, Cub could be an initial answer to this phenomenon.
The album is meticulously thought out, and delivered in a precise structure with a definitive aim on how they want to influence the listener. Leader of the Pack was the initial tune that gained the most traction and is still their most successful song, but for many including myself it only just breaks the top five on the album.
A modern entry into the no-skip division of LPs, high energy songs for the stage such as Girl Behind the Glass and Teal accompanied seamlessly with more delicate and melodic songs like Mantis and 17.
Released in 2022, this alongside their spot supporting Fontaines DC on their monumental Skinty Fia tour were the catalysts that allowed them to take the UK alternative scene by storm.
However, when looking to decipher their hold on people you still have to look further, many would attribute it to Slater’s dynamic and energetic vocals, packed with emotion, but I still believe there’s more to it than that.
The experience Wunderhorse provide to the listener is combining the accessibility of indie with more complex styles of psychedelia, post-punk and grunge.
You can blast them on a speaker with a room full of people, yet over multiple plays through your headphones you see their real magic. They lie in the middle of this Venn diagram of genres which not many other bands do, especially in the current music scene.
This ultimately is what wraps their fan base up and makes people cling to them. Their new album was recorded out in America, in the same recording studio used by Nirvana for In Utero. The title track Midas was the initial single, recently followed by July, both of these allude to a raw collection of guitar music set to be released on August 30th. Their headline tour has been announced and tickets are selling, it’s going to be exciting to see the heights that Slater and Co will reach.
