Cousins

'The Halls of Wickwire' (album stream)

BY Alex HudsonPublished May 6, 2014

We've been hearing about Halifax garage duo Cousins' new album, The Halls of Wickwire, for more than a year now, and it's finally here. Ahead of the May 13 release through Hand Drawn Dracula/Ba Da Bing Records, it's available to stream in full on Exclaim.ca.

The 10-song collection was recorded by Holy Fuck's Graham Walsh (Hannah Georgas, METZ) and Josh Korody (Beliefs, Greys, Fucked Up) at Candle Recording Studio, with Walsh also handling the mixing. It showcases the pair's stripped-down garage rock sound, with straightforward arrangements that put the focus on howling vocals, punchy drums and crunchy guitar strums. Cousins also strip things down for the spookily restrained "At Odds."

A press release loftily describes the album like this:

This record will change your life if you let it. A heartbreaker and a healer, it looks an awful world dead in the eye, fills the lungs up with all that pain and worry, and then comes back breathing a beautiful fire. This is the fine art of defence and hope. A ramshackle monument built over a steady spring of melancholy. Electricity and blood in the lines. Guitar and drums. A musical avalanche set apart from the macho and debaucherous posturing and fictions of rock culture.

Hear it below, and see the band's tour schedule here.

Latest Coverage