john wolfington

American Dreamsicle

'American Dreamscale' is the sophomore full length from US singer/songwriter John Wolfington, following on from his 2001 eponymous debut. So why has it taken him nigh on six years to get the record together? Well that's the story that frames the album - he took a trip across the USA from New York over to the West Coast, stopping when his car broke down and when he wanted to see a little of Mexico and eventually setting up a base in Los Angeles. The album is even sequenced in chronological order to reflect this trip, with each track representing another step in his journey, quite an interesting move for an artist I would think. The style is somewhat linked to Neil Young but I can hear elements of a lot more in there - maybe Tom Waits at time in the windswept spookiness of it all, and with the Two Dollar Guitar duo of Sonic Youth's Steve Shelley and Tim Foljahn playing backup you really can't go wrong. This is dark, bar-room American music, and Wolfington's voice carries the songs into the dusty outer realms simply beautifully. The soundtrack to an alternative American dream.