The Republic Of Wolves
Riverhead, NY | Established. Jan 01, 2010 | SELF | AFM
Music
Press
The Republic Of Wolves do more than just play songs on their debut album, Varuna. The Long Island, New York, fivesome create massive soundscapes for their melodies to amble through, building layers of instrumentals and lyrics that are heavily fleshed out. (4/5 stars) - Alternative Press Magazine
The Republic Of Wolves merge unpredictably varied emo and indie influences into their own brand of dreamy, breezy - and occasionally stormy - indie rock. 'No Matter How Narrow,' their first full-length album since 2010's harrowing 'Varuna,' is an effortless, carefree-sounding affair. It's warm, buoyant indie rock with some carefully applied tension, delivered by a band who actually find themselves hitting the pavement harder than ever before. - Alternative Press
Each new Republic of Wolves album seems to marginally overshadow the previous. Varuna expanded on the Brand New worshiping His Old Branches EP and their Cartographer EP was even better than Varuna. Enters No Matter How Narrow, here to claim the title of The Republic of Wolves’ masterpiece.
Whereas their previous three releases had been dark, brooding affairs, …Narrow is a bit lighter. This is apparent first even from the album cover – this one is white and gold and blue, while Varuna’s was brown and red and navy. But it’s the music that’s important. The choruses present are catchier than in the past, the guitar riffs are brighter than before, there’s less screaming present on this release. And when screaming is utilized, it’s done in a more sparing fashion, just to accentuate. A perfect example of this is the bridge of “Pioneers,” which finds only ten seconds of screaming for emphasis.
It’d be easy to call “Pioneers” the best track on the album, but then “Keep Clean” begins and you decide that that song is, in fact, the best on the album. On an album like this it’s hard to choose a best track; each one offers you something different. “Stray(s)” makes the best use of the band’s two vocalists, “Spare Key” has some of the best lyrics the band’s ever written, “Greenville, MO” has probably the catchiest chorus on the album, and “Pioneers” has the album’s most intriguing instrumentation. There’s no “The Attic” here, no song is clearly better than all the rest. If anything, “Arithmetic on the Frontier” is the worst song on the album. Not that it’s a particularly bad song, but the gang vocals at the end sound a bit awkward, especially since the song begins acoustic. Luckily, it’s the shortest on the album, so it’s not even a major hiccup.
Really, there are no major hiccups with the album. It’s a good amalgamation of everything The Republic of Wolves has released to this point, raised up a bit. It’s easily their best release, and if they keep up their streak, LP3 will top even this. I can’t wait. (9/10) - AbsolutePunk.net
Discography
His Old Branches (EP, 2009)
Varuna (album, 2010)
The Cartographer (EP, 2011)
No Matter How Narrow (album, 2013)
Photos
Bio
The Republic Of Wolves is a five-piece alternative rock band from Long Island, New York. They released their critically acclaimed debut EP ("His Old Branches") in late 2009 and followed it up with a full-length album ("Varuna") in November of 2010, building a widespread fanbase largely through internet word-of-mouth. After a short hiatus they self-released their second full-length album, “No Matter How Narrow,” in December of 2013, once again to critical acclaim. The Republic Of Wolves have performed alongside acts such as Good Old War, ROBBERS, HRVRD, and The Devil Wears Prada, and most recently played the Ernie Ball Stage for eight days of the Vans Warped Tour in Summer 2015. Over the past few years they have focused primarily on writing and recording a large collection of material, all of it produced and released independently. Their dynamic sound ranges from heavy post-hardcore to acoustic folk-rock, with an emphasis on uniquely narrative lyrics and rich, layered song structures. They are currently writing and recording a third full-length album, to be released in 2016.
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