Wesley Wolfe

There’s a reason Chapel Hill, North Carolina is still one of the great American hubs for independent music, and it’s not just indie rock stalwarts Superchunk and the Cat’s Cradle rock club. The reason is because there is a glut of homegrown talent, people like the Kingsbury Manx or Spider Bags that are churning out vital record after vital record. And go right ahead and add Wesley Wolfe to that list. Storage is, flat out, one of the finest pop records of the year. Wolfe recorded all the instruments himself, and these are as straight-up as pop songs come. Guitars, bass, drums, vocals, sweet melodies, clever and heartfelt lyrics, and hooks, hooks, hooks. But while the elements are simple, the songs are far from the same. Wolfe can pull off guileless love songs, lover-spurned indie rock, and spaced-out melancholia—and that’s just in the first three songs. His nasal bleat is urgent and sweet at the same time, and when he spits out lines like “sorry only counts the first time”, you know damn well he means it. So you’ve got 11 catchy as hell songs, full of driving guitars and deep hooks, telling earnest tales sung with both feeling and energy—aren’t those the things we expect from pop music? And does it make Storage one of the finest examples of it in 2010. The answer to both questions is a resounding ‘Yes’. - Popmatters

"Wesley Wolfe is a champion of simple lyrics that talk of the morals and life lessons we all learn. There’s a certain respect to be had for a guy who talks about growing up and learning without throwing an “artistic” veil of allegory over it. He’s frank and honest and encourages his listeners to join him in his positive outlook on life and all its necessary struggles. All of this is channeled through a straightforward power pop lens that veers ever so slightly into the garage/noise rock world. The total package of lyrics and music on Dumb Children projects a concept of innocence and childlike naivete that is often absent in our current day. For that his work is to be lauded. 4/5" - Josh Mock of Ghettoblaster Magazine #25 - Ghettoblaster (issue #25)

North Carolina native Wesley Wolfe tends bar when he's not writing these sparse but catchy pop songs, and one suspects that his nightly window into human folly provides plenty of song fodder. "We have different stories but we share the same scars," Wolfe sings over urgent, GbV strumming on opener "Only Ray of Sunshine," adding wearily that he knows, "how it feels to be let down/It happens so much that I expect it now."
Rather than completely wallow, though, Wolfe grabs for the hope implicit in the song's title, and that's pretty much the blueprint for these 10 songs: life's biggest promises are mostly lies, but redemption comes from going on with the damn thing anyway and taking joy from the quotidian, because every new dawn represents a significant victory. Wolfe's narrators are, in the end, too smart for their own good, and share the same cynic's dark view as Joe Pernice's over-thinkers ("In Primary Colors" actually sounds like classic Pernice Brothers). Wolfe's best songs carry the urgency implicit in the desperate search for meaning amidst so much bullshit and disappointment. "Sorry Only Counts the First Time" turns the Cure's "Just Like Heaven" on its head, opening with the memorable line "Everyday we choose coffee over suicide," while the staccato cello, glock and chugging rhythm of "Another Weed" couch Homeric allusions in classic Stephen Merritt pop.
A few songs slip past unremarkably, failing to catch fire, and the cynicism eventually accumulates into a heaviness that makes you yearn for a light-weight love song. But Wolfe is clearly a skilled wordsmith with some compelling pop songs to match, suggesting a bright - if also dim, speaking from a narrative viewpoint - future ahead of him.

Standout Tracks: "Sorry Only Counts the First Time" "In Primary Colors" JOHN SCHACHT - Blurt

North Carolina singer/songwriter Wesley Wolfe took on the ambitious feat of recording his debut album, Storage, in his own home and playing most of the instruments on it himself. Impressively, the result is far more professional-sounding than what you’d expect from a DIY project. Check out the lush “Wintry Mix,” which is slightly reminiscent of Death Cab For Cutie with boyish vocals and a dreamy, romantic ambience. Storage is out April 27 via Odessa Records. - Magnet Magazine