The Wands "Hello, I Know The Blow You Grow Is Magic" Review

Reviewed by Nathan Ford

A title like "Hello...." doesn't leave much to the imagination in terms of where this is going to fit in on the tripometer, and surely enough this duo from Copenhagen have unleashed a terrifyingly trippy debut E.P that somehow manages to find some middle ground between the Spacemen 3 and the Incredible String Band.
They describe their sound as 35% Fuzz, 25% Reverb, 5% Sitar, 9% Reverse, 10% Drones, 16% Other stuff - I'd perhaps swap the fuzz and reverb around, but otherwise this is pretty much spot on.
You've heard from the Fuzz Club label here before (I reviewed their Reverb Conspiracy comp here last year), so presumably you've got a pretty good idea of their aesthetic (and if not the clues are in the names - namely, lots of fuzz and lots of reverb).
The Wands certainly fit into this aesthetic to a certain extent - the title track is a good indicator of this, with a "Tomorrow Never Knows" drum pattern and swelling tabla drone adding some nice paisley touches behind the layers of deliciously fuzzy guitars, but they also have a lighter side that manifests more on the second side of this E.P. These more acoustic based tracks provide a wide open, expansive vista that give these tracks a more cinematic feeling - "The Key" is perhaps the best of these, bathed in a shimmery desert haze.
So there's two very complimentary sides to the Wands - and on the evidence of their first E.P, they do both sides equally well.
But don't take my word for it - they're lined up for the next Liverpool Psych Fest, and "Hello, I Know The Blow You Grow is Magic" is available on 10" from Fuzz Club here.

The title track has a great video too - check it out here :