VANDERWOLF Continues Genre-Bending Journey With Electro-Infused Single “3/5th in the Fire”

As a follow-up to the widely-lauded LP, “12 Little Killers,” New York musician Max Vanderwolf will release the retro-futuristic single, “3/5ths in the Fire” 2022 via Proper. The song, which was recorded in Camberwell, London with producer Chris Wyles at the helm, has its origins in the raging rock excesses of Vanderwolf’s previous London band, Last Man Standing. 

“This song was a staple in our set and was frequently played at festivals like Glastonbury, Lovebox and Bestival as well as clubs like 93 Feet East and Barfly. We recorded it much like we’d performed it but eventually I came around to the idea that I wanted to strip it down to its skeletal essence and re-dress it as something sonically anachronistic. Luckily, Chris immediately understood what I was going for…we listened to Vangelis’ ‘Bladerunner’ and Squarepusher’s ‘Hello Everything’ amongst other space-age references. We essentially reinvented the song.”

Listen to the single here:https://35sitfsingle.lnk.to/shseQJ

The only things remaining on this released version of the song is Vanderwolf call & response vocals which are split between a distressed sound and a vocoded voice. 

Wyles explains, “All drums were replaced with samples and programmed – main beats held back until the 2nd verse with a view to making the 7/8 and 4/4 transitions as smooth as possible. So, the quarter-note accents on the hi-hat for instance are always shifting from on to offbeat. Bass was replaced with a combination of Moog and Oberheim. There were multiple patches dependent on the parts and sections and in places were reinforced with synth.”

Wyles programmed the chords and then arpeggio’d them with 2 different arpeggios using a synth combination but mostly an Oberheim SEM synth which brought up interesting things especially in the 7/8 sections. Synth pads were filtered to add movement and momentum.

“It was written in both 7/8 and 4/4 and the end section combines both,” adds Vanderwolf. “The whole thing was designed to ‘float’ along and despite the complexity.”

The lyrics by Vanderwolf point toward the degradation of human experience in which consensual reality becomes increasingly out of reach and thus one’s relationship to oneself in turn, also, disintegrates. “I must’ve written these words in 2016 before our current epoch of internet conspiracies, false narrative and the plague of technology that silos us became so prevalent. It was this kind of alienation I sought to capture in the song.” 

As well as being a musician with a long and storied history – most notably as vocalist of the aforementioned cultish band, Last Man Standing, whose 2007 debut album “False Starts & Broken Promises” received plaudits from Mojo and Uncut among others – Max Vanderwolf has a hugely successful career as a music programmer and concert producer, working for some of the worlds’ most celebrated clubs and concert venues. These include New York’s legendary Knitting Factory and London’s internationally renowned Royal Festival Hall, where for 9 years he produced the Meltdown Festival working closely with David Bowie, Patti Smith, Jarvis Cocker, Massive Attack and Ornette Coleman. 

In May 2022 Vanderwolf released the single, “When the Fire Grows Cold” which featured the legendary vocalist, Robert Wyatt. The sprawling psychedelic B-side, “Extinction” featured a “glissando” guitar solo from Daevid Allen. 

In July 2022 Vanderwolf released the LP, “12 Little Killers” of which Mojo Magazine wrote, “There is a sophisticated musicality at play” and Rolling Stone France wrote, “The musician has concocted a rock record classic in form and devilishly accomplished in content.”

Vanderwolf will release his first album of songs recorded entirely in Los Angeles in March 2023. 
Watch video directed by Alden Volney:https://youtu.be/cqerjKoo1NI