The difficult second album: Now Hawel / McPhail have also made it. SORROW WONDERLAND is the name of the game and it coolly and laconically shreds its way through twelve pieces of garage, indie, 60s and punk rock. Rick McPhail (Mint Mind, Ex-Tocotronic) and Frehn Hawel (Tigerbeat, Neat Neat Neat) have taken another step forward since their joint debut TRANSMISSIONS FROM THE UPPER ROOM five years ago, which was more of a scrappy playground and was born out of fun.
On SORROW WONDERLAND, the two of them not only address long-term relationships, alienation and growing older, i.e. private turning points, but also an environment in which art is all too often reduced to usability. Your answer to this is not defiance, but perseverance. And that comes from the fuzz pedal. Anyone who knows and likes Thee Oh Sees or Jay Reatard will feel in good hands here. SORROW WONDERLAND is a manifesto of resilience and friendship. McPhail and Hawel show that even old school indie garage rock can still develop power, substance and emotional depth – and that the most complex stories often lie behind seemingly simple melodies.
