Blood Wizard

Jarred Up Presents

Blood Wizard

Cai Burns’ emergence in lockdown as Blood Wizard was startling in the project’s seeminglyinstant realisation. Western Spaghetti – his full-length debut – was the sort of record thatcould have been mistaken for a cult outsider’s work years deep into honing their craft. Itsdeftly balanced mix of quietly forceful hooks, plaintive textures and wry lyricism created awelcoming space to escape amidst the tension of the times. However, on themuch-anticipated follow-up Grinning William it’s clear that Burns has only previouslyscratched the surface of what Blood Wizard can be.

Grinning William is a record that advances Burns’ reputation as one of the UK underground’smost underrated ears when it comes to arresting hooks and pop smarts. Here, he pulls themthrough a prism that refracts differently from his previous releases – the more alt. folkleanings of his debut have been largely ushered out in lieu of slung low, beefier guitars thatat times tighten up into taut new wave urgency and at others allow themselves to fullyembrace the drop tuned sludge. Alex G remains an influence, and Burns also notes takingcues from the playfulness of Cate le Bon and Aldous Harding, as well as the raw, direct vocalproduction of Dean Blunt. However, he’s more than capable of plotting his own path, adeptat packing in a bustling array of ideas into efficient three-minute pop songs.

Opener sciencefiction is almost a goodbye to his previous album in its pared down guitarand embracing vocal drawl – harking back to the softer-edge Kurt Vile-reminiscent stylings ofsome of Western Spaghetti. The album’s title track then swerves direction, painting a morebroadly brushed chorus atop a feedback drenched foundation, Burns swapping in and out ofvocals with keyboardist Faye Robinson.

Grinning William arrives three years after Burn’s critically acclaimed debut and on thesurface it perhaps feels like Blood Wizard has emerged, retreated and returned in abruptfashion. However, the truth is that the wheels have never stopped turning for the artist. As on Western Spaghetti, Burns tackles his new LP with a full band, but affords Robinson,Tom Towle on second guitar, Ben Davis on bass and Adrian Cook on drums morecollaborative input than ever before. Recorded with producer Theo Verney, the band wentinto Echo Zoo Studios with tracks rehearsed but not so tightly that there wasn’t ample roomfor further additions and edits - and the open-ended nature of the project led to frequentunexpected creative turns. Songs became much heavier than their demo form as guitarswere layered up and – with just three initial studio days booked – tracks were run throughonce, altered sometimes drastically and then recorded in one take.

The result is a far more urgent Blood Wizard record than previous material, the quickone-two of Apples + Oranges’ fizzing American college rock and Devil Dressed in Disguise’sangular guitar pickings is a jolt to the senses, while Sinister Star is a strutting, squall of a rocktrack. Lyrically Burns retains a dry sense of humour and wry observational tone even whensinging about matters close to the heart. Tracks like BIG FISH are musings on the dance ofconnections and relationships and their emotional impact – Burns realising at one point “Ithought I was big fish, turns out I was bait”. The likes of back2bed meanwhile are moreretrospective in their gaze, Burns looking back to childhood and exploring the ways in whichhe’s tried to escape previous versions of himself. Underneath it all is an understanding of thefragility of life and its potential to collapse at any moment. The album moves through theseconflicting emotions, with Burns wrestling with personal struggles, relationships,disillusionment until reaching some form of acceptance on album closer Higher Energy!which ends Grinning William in emphatic style, guitars piled on top of each other, driventhrough by a direct, glottal bass line.

Grinning William is a confident step forward in Burns progression as a songwriter, anaddition to a Blood Wizard oeuvre that already for those in know has cemented him as anartist unafraid to look outwards for influence yet singular in his vision. Time will tell whetherit’ll push him over the precipice of the underground but, for those who discover it, GrinningWilliam is a record to return to time and time again.

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