EP: Wonderful by FISH AND SCALE

0
597

Fish and Scale’s anticipated EP ‘Wonderful’ has dropped, and at a perky length of 13 minutes, full of soulful and upbeat acoustic folk attenuated by Roland Wälzlein’s heartfelt singing, the short album hits home as sweet, reaffirming, and musically wholesome.

 Based in the Bavarian haven of Nuremberg, Fish, and Scale is the solo musical act of singer and songwriter Roland Wälzlein whose acoustic and vocal warmth penetrates through his simplistic but lively arrangements to create his unique brand of thoughtful folk pop. While pop-ish in sound, Fish and Scale’s music is considerably deep and thought-provoking, often with stirring messages being told about finding one’s value and happiness through immaterial means, and with Wälzlein’s hearty and forest-like yelps, he sure brings dedication to the delivery of those messages, giving them even more gravitas.

 The EP starts with the previously released ‘Stay!’, a jangly piece of optimistic folk that goes smoothly from the prickliest of fingerpicked passages all the way to rocked-out belts out. All the while Fish and Scales utilizes an earthy arrangement of creamy organs, a dry and wooden drum kit that’s bombastic and in-your-face. Wälzlein’s acoustic guitar is just as intimate and warm as the organs and the drums, and the playful vocal harmonies on the second cut ‘Don’t Care’ are a delightful addition to the song’s more country-inspired rocking sound. The song comes loaded with a delicious Honky-tonk piano solo and a short lead guitar solo that’s tightly overdriven and tastefully phrased. The third song of the EP is ’Feel’. This intimately voiced stunner makes use of slick vocal harmonies and an embracing groove that progresses with the song’s composition through its shapeshifting singer-songwriter atmospheres. Starting with a driving section with more reaffirming lyrics about finally getting connected with your true identity, once you manage to rid yourself of enough external distractions to be able to see what truly matters. The song’s electric guitar arrangement is exceptionally beautiful, mirroring the soft and driving grooves with their delicate arpeggiated chords and comfortingly suitable tones. A sublime song that sounds close and reassuring. The jazz-folk vibes carry along from the third to the fourth -and titular- song. Starting with Wälzlein and a retro-voiced upright piano that soon gets accompanied by an ever-dramatic bass part on a double bass that’s beautifully performed. Jazzy, quick, passionate, and restrained, ‘Wonderful’ is deserving of the title of the EP. Standing out and easily stirring, the song also contains some of the album’s most challenging vocal passages, as well as some of the prettiest lyrical lines.

 Fish and Scale’s EP ‘Wonderful’ is very short, allowing it to be condensed, delicious, and filler-free. Each moment of each song is carefully and lovingly calculated, with details and nuances that keep on giving with repeated listens. It is also sadly short because we could all easily use some more of Wälzlein’s Wonderful music.