Woolworm - Awe (2019)

With their massive sonics and anthemic pop songwriting, Woolworm is an arena rock band that just so happens to perform in DIY venues. Their music, which somehow seamlessly combines shoegaze, Britpop, post-punk, hardcore and black-metal into an impossibly cohesive sound, is the sum of their parts. The band's third album Awe expands the band's already robust songbook even further by offering a new take on their heavy, hardcore-inflected indie pop sound. The band's bleakly fulfilling 2017 LP Deserve to Die saw them meticulously planning every note before entering a real studio with venerable Vancouver producer Jesse Gander. This time around, they recorded with labelmate Jay Arner whenever the inspiration hit. "Even though some of these songs date back to before Deserve To Die, we allowed ourselves to be spontaneous and open-minded here and took a collage approach to the overall record," frontman Giles Roy says of Awe. "We let it be scrappier and more diverse and less symmetrical." The result is a collection of songs that are bristling with immediacy and, well, life. "Hold the Bow," the first single from Awe, puts these ideas into perspective. Woolworm's minor-chord melancholy is still featured throughout, but the song's uptempo, off-kilter rhythms and general urgency amp up the band's delivery. Even Roy's despondence is countered by some optimism as he sings "I don't need you to be mine / Just to know that you exist is enough." The bleakness of Deserve to Die has also dissipated thanks to Woolworm's relationship to Canada's music community writ large. The band's malleable sound has allowed them to play recent shows with artists as diverse as country pop crooner Orville Peck and mysterious hardcore legends Integrity, and no one has batted an eye. As a result, Woolworm have connected with audiences and likeminded musicians around the country. Overwhelming feelings, lived-in melodies and masterful rock music. It's all more than enough to inspire Awe.