We’ve finally reached the half-way point. The fifth out of nine amazing collections of minimalistic, mythical, acoustic singer/songwriter songs from an elusive Bostonian that goes by the name of Beware Wolves. Following the phases of the moon, the fifth volume features the full moon on its cover, a promising symbol. 

Check out all Sistra’s Beware Wolves features here.

This album kicks off with the bluesy, driving Little Voice. An intimate, yet powerful piece that has a steady strumming rhythm and a stunning vocals performance infused by a bluesy undercurrent that manages to hype up the energy even more. A fitting starting point. The following, Long Run is a slow burner that features a similar steady rhythm, with a muted feel that sucks away the energy of the first song and replaces it with a warm, flowing feel that makes the song easy and soothing. An amazing song on its own, but in its current placement, it seems to bring down the energy and the anticipation at an unsuitable point in the record. Perhaps the price to pay for having all songs in alphabetical order throughout the 9 albums. Long Shot in the Dark has another rhythmic guitar part with interesting chord ideas. But again, it fails to raise the energy. On its own, this intimate guitar-and-voice piece is perfectly enjoyable, with a tight guitar performance, and a high-reaching vocal part. It’s an intricate piece that must have been a challenge to record, let alone record in one take, just like most other songs from Beware Wolves. After Lucky One, a sweet, sentimental tune, that has a slow, lulling rhythm, and some playful lyrics, comes Me for You, which finally brings the energy back into the mix. With its jingle-like chord progressions, intricate harmonies, a guitar overdub, and open, airy mix, Me for You is expansive, nuanced, and endlessly sweet. 

Medicine Man has a prominent vocal delivery that’s full of characterful hums and bluesy intricacies, a start-stop guitar performance and a hazy, smoky mix. Roomy, and reverbed, the guitar sounds organic and perfectly in tune, along with the rapid-fire singing. Mira is the third instance of a name drop throughout the 5 albums that hint at a romantic partner at which the songs are directed. It sees the artist use his baritone chops in a colorful vocal performance that utilized the harmonies well, making them sound like backing vocals.

The 5th collection from Beware Wolves, while featuring the same usual quality songwriting, and having a number of solid tunes, essentially shoots itself in the foot right from the start. Starting with a strong highlight followed by 3 songs that fail to maintain the momentum. It’s the price that Beware Wolves pays for not exercising his powers to change the order of the songs around, rather settling for leaving them in alphabetical order. An album full of strong songs, on their own, but together, in that order, it has an unstable momentum that puts pressure on the remaining volumes to correct the trajectory. 

Stepping into the 4th collection of songs from Boston’s mysterious Beware Wolves felt like meeting with an old friend. At this point, we’re approaching the midpoint. So, let’s discover this volume, and see what tricks the artist utilized to keep things fresh and exciting for this album.

Check out all Sistra’s Beware Wolves features here.

Populated with the artist’s songs that start with H, all the one to the ones starting with L, and featuring a waxing gibbous on its sleeve, we’re one step short of a full moon now. Beware Wolves starts this collection with Holding Out. This gorgeous acoustic piece sees the artist airing out some personal information about their shortcomings when it comes to expressing themselves. This is set against a stark acoustic guitar performance that features the rare overdub. The guitar is dynamic, and the strumming takes multiple shapes in this composed part that makes use of the artist’s skill for arranging multiple parts. The mix is warm and accommodating and both guitars and voice sound fitting and in harmony. How We Roll is one of Beware Wolves’ most dynamic parts. With a watery verse-chorus structure that has everything from pre to post choruses, bridges, and everything in between, the song is always in motion. Shame that the guitar at points sounded excessively compressed, crushed to the point of distortion, and that the harmonies falter, for the first time in my recollection, in perfectly backing the main vocal part, making it sound like a competition when they get louder in the second half of the song. If Than I is far less confusing than its title. The music and the words are endlessly sweet, speaking of how the artist wants to be the one who treats the subject of those words right and kind, and how he wants to be the one to come along and take their hand. The words are lovely, and the arrangement is so sparse, populated by a warm, minimal guitar, and hushed harmonies. Tasty. 

In The Rain is a simplistic pop song that uses a beautiful composition that moves in a front and back motion in its progression that makes it incredibly easy on the ears. Inbound Ride is another stunner in which the harmonies are back to being a perfect accompaniment for the colorful main vocal line. A thin guitar part provides the musical basis for this ride that speaks of life in the modern world, being exhausted by the rapid pace of it all, and longing for a long break. Just in Time has a beautifully playful guitar part with some of the most sincere, direct, and loving lyrical parts throughout this album, the harmonies are in order and the warm acoustic is mixed in perfectly. Just Might has a very recognizable slapback delay on the acoustic guitar, which calls to mind 2 distinct tunes that we heard on the first volume. The composition is heartfelt with a dash of dramatic chords that manage to successfully spice up the whole affair. Lay Down Love has intensely romantic lyrics that close this collection on a reaffirming, loving note.

At this point, what we’ve come to expect from Beware Wolves is really simple. Serene acoustic songwriting, compelling lyrics with narratives that run from the dreamy, loving fantasies to the grounded confessions of shortcomings, exhaustion, and love. His music is earthy and warm, and while it falters at points, it holds an insanely consistent quality that points the fingers towards a completely capable and professional musician.

The 3rd volume of the Bostonian Beware Wolves sees the moon progress to its full quarter phase (Check the review for the second volume if you don’t get it), and with it a new set of songs, similar in essence and soul. So, how does this volume stack up against the 2 stunning, previous ones? Let’s find out. 

For the late comers, Beware Wolves is an elusive Bostonian who happened to drop 9 albums within a single month, August of 2022. We’ve been tasked with taking this expansive body of work for a spin to know more about the artist and to find out if these 4 and a half hours’ worth of music holds any actual value.

Check out all Sistra’s Beware Wolves features here. 

In short, it does. Beware Wolves music is stunningly direct, and deceptively simple. All of it seems directed towards a significant person in his life, a thought that gives the music a clear sense of direction and purpose, even if it is untrue. With a song called Anna in the 1st volume, and another called Danielle in the 2nd, the grand romantic gesture that the music seems to hold might end up being nothing more a ruse. But we may never know. For The Love of You starts the album on a romantic note. Beautifully sung, with touching melodies, and colorful guitar musing. This song features little in terms of vocal harmonies, making the atmosphere of one-man-one-guitar feel intimate and warm. Glow is simple, with warm, vulnerable singing, and accommodating harmonies. The chords are sweet and direct with heartfelt picking that sometimes feels a little messy, but in a way that heightens the humanness of the song. Good Ride sees the artist explore a bluesy musical trope, finally using a cliché chord progression and going all out on his vocal part. With syncopation and belted notes, the vocal part of Good Ride is easily one of his more powerful and present vocal parts this far into his discography. The lyrics are also smart and sweet, and the composition sees him making use of a variety of picking techniques to make dynamic changes between a more hushed down verse part, and a more driving and rocking chorus.

Goodbye is a minimal tune, with a sparse vocal part and a guitar part that’s full of space. The lyrics are full of peaceful melancholy and haunting romanticisms. Gravity is a warm singer/songwriter piece with affectionate vocals and an interesting composition that hits the occasional foreign chord, infusing an intense, vivid color suddenly into an otherwise serene soundscape. Green Thumb has a playful sound with peppy, prominent harmonies and a relatively muted guitar part. With a fast rhythm and dynamic (albeit minimal) arrangement, it’s a jumpy tune that features some mildly dissonant and energetic chords. Healing Eyes has Beware Wolves channel his inner Elvis. Through a nuanced and dynamic guitar performance, and a vocal part that reaches high, and is fairly acted throughout, this cinematic piece is intricate and is not like most of the stuff we’ve heard from him until this point.

In Beware Wolves’ third collection of songs we see him stepping a little outside of his box, exploring a number of rhythmic, harmonic, and vocal musical ideas that manages to bring new blood into his sound, making this collection no less compelling or enjoyable than the ones before. 3 out of 9, there is still a long way to go, with a lot that can go wrong, and far more to get right.

 

Jumping back into the music of Beware Wolves, I was met with an intense sense of familiarity that I honestly did not expect. I found that his music was essentially very easy to get used to. 

I also managed to spot a couple more details that I happened to miss on the previous record. Each album cover has a graphic of the moon, with its phases progressing, from the new moon of the first album, we arrive on the waxing crescent on the second one. The songs are also arranged in an alphabetical order, throughout the entire discography, not in each individual album. So, the second album has the Bs, all the way to the start of the Fs, which sparked an internal conversation about how artists arrange music in their albums, with all scenarios having the case in which there were songs that were, in essence, better than others. Some artists would opt to put the stronger ones at the start and the end, others would prefer to place them strategically at different spots throughout the runtime, making Beware Wolves’ decision a very confident one, maybe even reckless, as it tells us that he holds all his music as having a consistency in quality that makes every album standout, even if the songs are arranged with no basis other than an alphabetical one.

Check out all Sistra’s Beware Wolves features here.

But as all albums go, there were moments that held more value than others, distinct highlights. So, let’s discover them. The starter, Blackout, is a dazzling acoustic blues tune, straight from a smoky parlor. With an amazing vocal part and effortlessly musical harmonies, the warm guitar finds no difficulty cutting through and delivering the bluesy elegance. Bring it to Me is a sensual ballad with haunting ballad and an acoustic guitar that sounds full and large, if slightly muted. The vocals, main and harmonies, are the star of the show here. With a melodic part that beautifully plays along the composition, the song sounds dynamic with its harmony that goes from the intimacy of a simple guitar part and a voice to full strums and a few voices harmonizing on top. Both are delivered effortlessly and eloquently. Crazy has a quirky production that sees the voice and guitar with fully scooped mids (a production move that removes the frequencies in the middle of the spectrum, putting a focus on the bass and the treble, creating a very distinct sound). The words are illusive and mythical, open for interpretation. The chorus has a delightful melody and vocal part that stick to the ear. 

Danielle is a jangly singer/songwriter song with pronounced, rhythmic acoustic guitar strumming and sensual, direct lyrics that finally gives a name as to whom a lot of those songs are written for. The follower, Electric Light, is a peppy, romantic song with inventive, heartfelt lyrics that are very sweet and a production that’s remarkably similar to the previous song, making me think that both were recorded in the same session. Envy of Stars is a beautifully mixed piece, with simple, strummed acoustic guitar and a voice that’s occasionally accentuated by a beautiful harmony part. The words are introspective, and the composition flows easily. A beautiful, bluesy tune.

Beware Wolves’ music seems to have a remarkable consistency in quality, with each song having a perfectly compelling narrative and heartfelt, well-though lyrics, and while some songs will gain more favor with different listeners, there’s no denying that the quality stays still, lending a massive sense of cohesion to his work, one that makes discovering his music feels like rummaging through a forgotten chest of toys from your childhood, you don’t know what you’re going to pull out next, but you’re pretty sure you’re not going to hate it.