It’s a rare album whose choruses will have you singing along the first time. Usually you have to hear a song once or twice before you feel comfortable belting it out with the kind of reckless abandon you can only have in your car when you think no one is watching, but in the case of Smiling Dogs (Profound Lore), the first album from Man’s Gin, the solo project of Erik Wunder, also known as the Hemingway obsessed half of the black metal duo Cobalt. First time listening to the hyper-Jerry Cantrell-esque “The Death of Jimmy Sturgis,” it was as though I’d known the song all my life, and listening to it was like revisiting an old friend.

That’s par for the course to varying degrees for Smiling Dogs. What I take away most from my repeat sessions with the album is how Wunder managed to hide this innate songwriting ability in Cobalt, whose songs rely on more open structures and esoteric methods. Man’s Gin might be an overflow of the impulse to create, but whatever the case, it’s delivered soaked in passion, so that even as Wunder begins a song in his big boy deep singing voice, it’s not long before a track like closer “Doggamn” has him so psyched to play it that there’s a quick key change. That kind of thing happens a lot, and it only adds to the natural, genuinely organic vibe of Smiling Dogs. Colin Marston of Dysrhythmia, who recorded the album at his The Thousand Caves studio in Brooklyn – to which Wunder relocated prior to putting Man’s Gin together — is hardly known for this kind of thing, but damn if he doesn’t evoke a deep-hued, almost morose beauty in a memorable track like “Solid Gold Telephone.”

There is some posturing in Wunder’s singing, but I suspect that’s something that’ll be smoothed out on the future releases that are hopefully to follow, and one imagines the David Eugene Edwards influence worked into the raucous “Free” will lead to exploration in terms of arrangement that will only serve Wunder’s songwriting ability better with time. For now, the straightforward bar-room blues style suits Smiling Dogs well, and as Wunder is joined by multi-instrumentalists Josh Lozano and Scott Edward, who both contribute vocals as well as upright bass and guitars/piano, respectively, everyone seems put at any given moment to the best use possible. “Stone on My Head” has a ‘90s vibe, and it’s pretty clear throughout Smiling Dogs that Wunder grew up around what’s now known as grunge, but Man’s Gin is more geared on songwriting than fitting in this or that genre, and if it wants to be anywhere, I think it’s in front of the bar.

“Hate Money Love Women” and “Nuclear Ambition” parts one and two serve to be no less engaging than any of Smiling Dogs’ highlight material, and each song ultimately stands up to whatever test it’s put against. The earlier cuts, the opening title track and high-voiced “Free” which follows, open the album with an immediate feel of accomplishment, and as the subsequent 42 minutes progresses, you know increasingly that you’re hearing something special. And so you are.

One hopes this is the first of many recorded documents to come from Man’s Gin, and that Wunder is able to use this album as a launch point for future songwriting development. His vocals might come off as over-stylized to some ears, and for parts of the album, that’s fair, but he’s getting a feel for where he wants to be sonically, and for capturing that, Smiling Dogs is all the more honest. What’s more integral to the listening experience, however, is the raw power of the material and the haunting aspects of these songs. If you let them, they will stay with you, grow on you, to the point where you find yourself humming the melody of “Solid Gold Telephone” without even realizing what it is, then going back to the album and finding out just how much of an impact it’s had. To not engage with Smiling Dogs is simply to miss out. It’s one of the best debuts I’ve heard all year and easily the most rife with potential.

Man’s Gin on MySpace

Profound Lore

Tags: Brooklyn, Man's Gin, New York, Profound Lore

This entry was posted on Monday, August 16th, 2010 at 10:48 am and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.