Accident and Emergency – Patrick Wolf

CD review by Jo Whitby

Back in 2004 a promotional CD dropped through my letterbox, this was a regular occurrence as I had just started a music webzine but unlike many of the other promos this particular disc proceeded to live in my CD player for the next 2 years. The album was called ‘Wind in the Wires’ and the artist was the young and incredibly talented Patrick Wolf.

Patrick Wolf is truly a musical wizard capable of playing almost any instrument you’d care to thrust upon him. As a musician myself, and also a player of a number of instruments, it was wonderful to discover a fellow artist who wrote and produced all his own music. At the time I received ‘Wind In The Wires’ (which was in fact his second album) I was struggling with my music composition, I had the dreaded ‘writer's block’! Patrick’s music reached deep inside of me and seemed to pull out all the creative sparks and ideas that had been hiding from my sight for quite some time.

I very quickly picked up a copy of his first album ‘Lycanthropy’, which I discovered was a far more electronic affair in comparison to the more folk-like second album but still a fantastic effort considering it was recorded when Patrick was 19. Friends and family will know that if they play the track ‘Paris’ to me from ‘Lycanthropy’, where Patrick exclaims “you must come, come to joy!”, they’re guaranteed a sobbing wreck by the end of the song, it’s that powerful.

So, let's bring things a little more up to date – Patrick Wolf is now 23. It’s October 2006 and the first single from Patrick’s third album ‘The Magic Position’ - ‘Accident and Emergency’ has finally been released.

In the track we’re treated to bleeps and electronic samples, much like his earlier work only far more controlled and simplified. The lyrics are on top form: 'If you never lose/How you gonna know when you've won/And if it's never dark/How you gonna know the sun/When it shines’
Really great stuff, another song that will find me in tears if it catches me in the right mood.

Patrick describes the track as a ‘Pop’ song and I can understand why. It’s quite accessible unlike some of his previous work and now with a major record company backing the release maybe the musical genius will finally get the recognition and success he deserves.

Visit www.patrickwolf.com for more information.