Album Review: Wild Pink - 'Still Coming Down'
Few could have guessed that when John Ross made his bow as Wild Pink with a self-titled debut album in 2017 that he’d go on to become one of the most consistent artists in the game, the New Yorker finding his footing on imperial phase-era Tiny Engines before beginning a relentless upward trajectory with Yolk in the Fur the following year. What do you mean he’s released A Billion Little Lights, ILYSM, Dulling the Horns and now Still Coming Down in a five-and-a-half-year span? Sure, the dates check out, but that barely seems real. He’s settled in on Fire Talk, with as much to prove as he ever did, and his latest offering finds Ross swerving hard into blustery rock territory, celebrating newfound fatherhood as much as he casts a weary eye over the more absurd moments of life.
In contrast to Dulling the Horns, Still Coming Down has a narrower scope, offering up the tightest and leanest version of Ross’s full-band vision yet. Quick vocal takes and very little in the way of overthinking, with opener ‘Box Store’ crashing in with a jolt, spiky guitars front and centre, bolstered by accordion and keening slide guitar. It’s got volume behind it, outlining the record’s approach almost immediately. You’ve got frills popping up here and there (guests like Meg Duffy of Hand Habits, who lends their guitar prowess to the album’s title track, and members of MJ Lenderman and the Wind), but there’s a sense of directness to these nine songs that Ross and company haven’t tapped into in a while, and never quite like this.
These are songs that make an immediate impact, packed with quips about the frailty and ridiculousness of the average person’s life. Perspectives blur the line between real and invented; ‘Round of Applause at the End of the World’ speaks to a specifically American strain of conspiracy theorist, but the moments when it zeroes in on Ross admitting that, “I don’t know what my idea of fun is anymore”—a line so brutal that it works three-fold, in & out of character, as well as a wider comment on how the people you meet have no idea how to enjoy themselves these days, always chasing after the next thing. The verse falls apart for a few measures, similarly wounded, before the song’s wordless refrain picks the pieces back up.
As a man who’s battled cancer and come out the other side, Ross knows a thing or two about adversity, but he casts his net wider than documenting his own personal joys and setbacks, with these songs as much about wading through the murk of life to find the light as they are anything else, with ‘Plates Keep Spinning’ capturing the sense of white-knuckling one’s way through life while steeped in everyday overwhelm, and ‘Still Coming Down’ itself providing insight into Ross’s hard-earned philosophy, guitar scrapes and all: “I used to be pure, I just try to be good now.” Taking inspiration from the grunge bands he fell in love with as a teenager, as well his own intuition (“You got a compass right where your heart is - you know what to do”), Ross suggests he ‘found his voice’ on this record; quite a claim when this is the latest chapter of a generational run.
“From here on out, I just wanna make it count” he affirms on ‘Like Water’, and that single line provides the entire ethos of the record. Still Coming Down finds beauty in detail, green shoots sprouting through wreckage, offering up fascinating character studies as often as it throws in glimpses of Ross’s personal vantage point as part of a wider society constantly worried about the wrong things. A little over a decade since Wild Pink meekly introduced themselves with 2 Songs, the band’s still on a tear with Ross as their lynchpin. You get the sense that he’s ready to go until the wheels fall off, and the power behind his latest offering suggests he can go absolutely anywhere from here. Replayable, remarkable, rejuvenated—we didn’t know we wanted Wild Pink to get back to basics, but here we are, and Still Coming Down is a capital-R Rock Record that lands every swing it takes. Play it loud, with the lyric sheet in hand - album experiences like this don’t come along too often.
Words by Gareth O’Malley
