BLOOD WIZARD - WESTERN SPAGHETTI
Kagoule frontman Cai Burns throws off his punk façade and delves into a more acoustic sound with his debut solo album. Western Spaghetti is a joy: entertaining, witty and nuanced, and we can’t wait to see what Blood Wizard’s experiments result in next.
Kagoule frontman Cai Burns throws off his punk façade and delves into a more acoustic sound with his debut solo album, Western Spaghetti.
As Blood Wizard, Burns stepped to the studio with a handful of song fragments and no clear idea of the direction he wanted to take them in; “Blood Wizard began as more of a personal exploration than something I intended to package and sell”, he explains. With no fixed deadline for the completion of the album, Burns was free to explore this new sound and experiment with texture, colour and light. An experiment which has resulted in an album filled with twists, turns and surprises.
Laid back, funky and full of 90s Britpop sensibilities, with just a hint of 70s glam rock, a sprinkle of disco and some folky undertones, Western Spaghetti is the ideal soundtrack to long, lazy, sun soaked days.
‘Fruit’ tells the relatable story of being happy for your friends’ achievements whilst feeling like your life isn’t going anywhere. Filled with sarcasm – half sung, half spoken through gritted teeth – Blood Wizard’s dry humour shines through lines like “Hooray to the big news/got my mouth around the spoiled fruit”. The trudging guitar riff and drawn out backing vocals emulate brilliantly the feeling of life being long, slow and uneventful – a feeling most of us can empathise with at the moment.
‘Bob’s Big Arms’ is the gentlest track on the album, with a lullaby rhythm and whimsical lyrics about learning to accept fate as a natural and unavoidable part of being a human: “A worn out worker hits every red light home/It’s no use trying to tell him, cos he already knows/That Bob’s big arms, they hold the world up and spin it like a basket ball/and some things just happen and there’s nothing you can do.” The song is a witty, biting look at the human habit of dwelling on the things that go wrong in life, and forgetting the moments when things work in our favour: “Isn’t it lovely when everything’s working out alright/But these are the moments that get washed away.”
‘Somehow I Knew’ is a subdued, disco tinged commentary on the number of people we never write meet in life, whilst ‘Car Crash’ – which feels like it belongs on the soundtrack to 1998 cult movie, Velvet Goldmine – is inspired by the strange ways we sometimes show love towards others.
Essentially, Western Spaghetti is a simple guitar/drums/keys kind of set up. But it’s impossible to put a finger on exactly what kind of album this is. Vocally, Blood Wizard is reminiscent of the deep, rumbling drawl of Lou Read. Musically, the album is timeless, sitting comfortably somewhere within the past five decades, and, although Burns’ punk background is undeniably evident in the way he writes and delivers lyrics, Kagoule this ain’t. Identifying himself as an artist entirely set apart from his new wave punk trio, Burns has allowed himself a lot of freedom and space in which to explore a new approach to music. One that is already paying dividends. Western Spaghetti is a joy: entertaining, witty and nuanced, and we can’t wait to see what Blood Wizard’s experiments result in next.
Jess Distill
★★★★☆