Wow to the Deadness

2016 release from the veteran singer/songwriter. Opener "Wow to the Deadness" is the perfect example of their effortless fusion. Part eerie campfire sing-a-long, part bruised-up brawler, the song volleys from Taylor's exhortation to "let it slide to the other side" to Smith's ecstatic declaration, "We have a winner!" In "A Muse," Taylor plays another glory hound clawing for his 15 minutes over acrid, clawing guitars. And "Wait Up Downstep" is a revved-up Boy Scout marching song, Smith alternating between mantra-like refrain and beautifully swooping verses. And "Nonchalant" has the same coiled intensity as the National, but feels more wounded, more restless. More than anything, Steve Taylor & the Danielson Foil is the sound of two acts scrapping every rule of songwriting and rewriting the document according to their own impulses. Every time you think you've got its sound pinned down, it shape-shifts again, transforming into something entirely new, fantastically confounding, and utterly irresistible. It is, to paraphrase Steve Albini, really raucous and really, really great.