Wucan
Sow the Wind

From Dresden, Germany hails a quartet who goes by the name Wucan, and they have just recently released their first album called Sow the Wind. It is an album that has not been gifted with the best looking cover artwork I have ever seen. They have a female vocalist and their music seems often described as retro rock, and amongst reviewers it seems like the seventies is the time that is being looked at with rose tinted spectacles. I think retro rock can be fun although most of those bands that are going down the retro/nostalgia road fall into the trap of copying the bands they like rather than take inspiration from them and build something of their own.

This band starts with an excellent flute melody that drives into the first track Father Storm where the flute plays a very big role. It is probably easy to draw parallels to a band called Jethro Tull who also liked that sort of thing; I think that Hippie rock might be a better thing to call this style of music. It feels a little bit like something out of the “flower power” movement, classic yet relatively modern in terms of production and sound, it does not feel dated. I think that the variation over the six tracks is good enough to keep the listener engaged, the final track is sung in German and it is a very long epic track that ends the album and that actually gives the album a sensation of being a well thought out album. In terms of the style I think that progressive and psychedelic are two words that probably will fit well with the description.

The vocalist is not particularly impressive if I am honest; she fits her role okay but does not really bring anything extra through her vocal performance. She does however play flutes and such things, meaning that she does add some attractive attributes to the band. I think that it is overall a good album; maybe not as good as it could have been because four of the six tracks don’t really do anything for me, they are good but nothing that grabs me. The best tracks have excellent drive and energy and feel exciting and innovative, while the rest feels more like fillers than anything else. I think that it is for fans of flute-enriched hippie rock from another, more friendly world. To me it feels liken there is more potential in this band than what they manage to put on record.

I think that the long ending epic called Wandersman is the highlight of the album, it is excellent that she sings in German and I cannot help thinking about what monster of an album this would have been had the band kept this level throughout the album. I also think that opener Father Storm is worth mentioning with its excellent flutes and great energy, it is a brilliant opener. Those two tracks are definitely highlights, the rest of the album isn’t really up to that level and I don’t think it would be too unfair to call this album partly brilliant.

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