EP Review: South of No North

South of No North; the name of hands-down, Bukowski’s best collection of acerbic, misogynist short-stories, and also the debut EP from Alexander Wildwood. Any Bukowski worship beyond the title are thankfully absent or obscure enough not to bring the music down to the level of that drunken, albeit brilliant, curmudgeon.  

South of No North, unlike its namesake, is bright and catchy, full of optimistic refrains, positive self-reflection, and what sounds like a genuine love of life. Wildwood is no doubt a skilful multi-instrumentalist who knows how to craft hooky pop-songs with that indie sound.

If you have seen the artistic and unusual video for opening track, Bad Blood, or heard the first single, Summer Skin, on the radio and wanted to hear more, I’m sorry to tell you this isn’t that more.

While the short nature of EPs makes them the perfect medium when you’re pressed for time, or if you want to get a feel for what a band is like, this shortness can become a problem if you really enjoyed the music and wanted to hear more, which is the case with South of No North. This isn’t that more, this is a cruel tease, only the smallest of tastes.

Luckily, looking at Alexander Wildwood’s Musicbed page (https://www.musicbed.com/artists/alexander-wildwood/12405) and knowing that the five songs chosen for this EP came from a collection of thirty, there is still a lot of Wildwood material out there that could potentially form another EP or two, or hopefully, a full length album. 

If the South of No North EP is a test of the market for more Alexander Wildwood, let it show that there is room for a lot more Wildwood in the mainstream.

You can stream South of No North from Alexander Wildwood’s Soundcloud (https://soundcloud.com/alexanderwildwood/sets/south-of-no-north) or purchase it from iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/nz/album/south-of-no-north-ep/id940155260).

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