A renamed version of Wet (the west-coast four piece, not the Brooklyn synth-pop trio), Strange Wilds are an Olympia band in both sound and spirit. Their debut album is firmly embedded in the Pacific north-west’s grunge tradition and the wider west coast’s hardcore roots. Tracks reference the scuzzy repetition of Nirvana and Mudhoney (Pronia, Autothysis, Oneirophobe), while others veer into the unapologetic hardcore of Sub Pop labelmates Metz and Sacramento malcontents Trash Talk (Egophillia, Pareidolia, Lost and Found). All of this is fun while it lasts, but anyone who is familiar with the back catalogues of labels such as Touch and Go or SST will feel like they’ve heard it all before – when it sounded fresher. It isn’t bad, but it rarely moves beyond pastiche – Don’t Have To sounds like a Metallica song (specifically Enter Sandman) spliced together with a plodding Nirvana effort. Imitation might be the most sincere form of flattery, but for Strange Wilds it isn’t too complimentary.
