4 out of 5

Label: Roadburn Records

Produced by: James Plotkin (mastered by)

Covering material from Ἀποκάλυψις and The Grime and the Glow, this live set from 2012 helps to recontextualize the material into the more full sound experienced on Wolfe’s (then) soon to come albums, starting with Pain is Beauty and onward. The material was already very strong, but the original recordings leaned into an indie, singer-songwriter tone, which certainly worked on the albums (Wolfe’s strong lyrics, Nicks-esque haunting voice and compositional grit have always been grabbing), it’s just here given a very different, somewhat more immediate vibe.

This fulfills one of my main criteria for a live disc: what does it change or add to the studio versions of the songs? Live at Roadburn – pun kind of intended – gives it a bigger stage to perform on, and I’d argue its to the songs’ benefits.

That said, we’re faced with the general limitations of such recordings: there’s an inevitable flatness to the mix, where some gut-punches or percussion drops or distortion don’t hit as hard, but it’s also a very clear recording – no clipping at any point, nuanced audible – allowing one to hear all of the band, with Wolfe’s vocals (if heavily reverberating) crisp throughout. The sequencing also gets off to an odd start, pairing two rather slow lead-ins back to back before the set picks up – every time I put this on, I get a little restless while waiting for the album to gain momentum, but once it does, the ebb and flow between rockers and comparatively more minimal tunes is excellent.

Perhaps one’s appreciation of this will depend on whether Wolfe’s earlier or later material is preferred; admittedly listening to the latter moreso, I liked hearing the former stuff “recast” closer to that style, which also had the addest bonus of encouraging me to give those early discs more time.

Either way, this is a well-recorded batch of tracks that truly differ from their studio versions, making them very much worth a listen for any Wolfe fan.