Guilherme Wolf: “Taylor Rain” taken from the “So Sexy” EP
Guilherme Wolf is a Brazilian DIY lo-fi indie rock artist from São Paulo. What makes him so distinct is his ability to blend his perpetually under-the-radar guitarist abilities with an uncanny ear for catchy melodies. Wolf tears away at the string stringed instrument with such fevered and focused energy it’s a marvel he manages to utter any words into the microphone at all, much less the bouncy tone he projects. He is balancing the discipline of tight songwriting and the glee of following a guitar thread wherever it goes. Guilherme Wolf’s songs usually contain typically dense and mystifying lyrics, surging guitar riffs, and an immediately inviting melody.
Soaking up all of his influences, from the lyrical storytelling to the guitar virtuosity, he weaves all of his strengths together to form the EP “So Sexy”, a lyrically impacting, instrumentally dense entity always up for sonic adventure. Wolf’s guitar style contains threads of most good rhythm players, being more of a riff explorer, searching with his instrument not for the right note, but for the right journey.
Right from when he opens with the first track, “Taylor Rain”, Wolf’s greatest gift seems to be his ability to create an elastic, unpredictable lo-fi crunchy rock sound that’s always threatening to careen in multiple directions at once. Dense and intense, Guilherme Wolf’s sound is alternately explosive and quirky, offering tremendous hooks, awesome rock power, and hypnotically intense and aggro vocal flavors. With its layers of guitars and abstruse lyrics, the track is an ardent, challenging music installment from the Brazilian artist.
Regardless of any comparisons to other artists, this EP is an indie milestone of singularly infectious guitar rock in 2019 that also serves all of Wolf’s idiosyncrasies on a glowing plate. Not a second is wasted on this recording, as Guilherme Wolf weaves catchy melodies into diverse time signatures and offbeat blends of guitar, bass, and drums.
“Need To Get Some” is a user friendly indie rock cut, with an alt-pop twist. The driving guitar leads that zigzag atop a swirling rhythm concoct a wave of energy too sweet to deny. Wolf’s high-energy vocals give an intriguingly brittle quality to track.
Here the artist manages to keep his musical ambitions accessible, as he harnesses his momentum in unexpected ways. The mixing also gives equal weight to Wolf’s voice and the instruments, thus exhibiting the musical gusto at work. The endless allure of the song lies within its buoyant vocal melody and vitalized guitar that almost steals the show by the song’s end.
“Pink Asteroid Is Not Gay” displays many of Guilherme Wolf’s best qualities: his bubbly guitars, the boundless song structuring, Wolf’s off-kilter singing, and a disdain for the traditional while still being immediate and coherent. The clean guitars sweep you away while the distorted psychedelic wails simmer just under the surface. As a result the track is incredibly enjoyable.
The attention to detail is found on every square inch of this record. More than many other band of the genre, Guilherme Wolf is able to mix technicality and accessibility into the instrumentation. Clearly, the main instrument here is the guitar work, and Wolf writes riffs that work brilliantly throughout these songs, but it doesn’t stop there. The EP “So Sexy” is simply a must own for any indie rock kid.
