General Wolf Department Drops A Massive and Genre-Bending Album
- BuzzSlayers
- 16 hours ago
- 4 min read
If you are looking for a release that blends dream pop, electronic, post-punk, and indie rock, and gives everything an experimental and vast style undertone, then we have just the record for you.
This is a self-titled album by General Wolf Department, and it's one of the few records that I've heard in a while that isn't tied down to specific genres or built with walls around it.
This is an experimental record, but it always has this sort of pop sensibility that gives it color, brightness, and endless energy.
The first track on the record, 'Systems Go", gives you a great feel for some of the more experimental and rambunctious sides of the songwriting that you get across some of the tracks on the record.
This is sort of hyper pop, in a sense. It has that massive drive to it while blending elements of vocoder effect with organs, jungle-style breakbeat, definitely high-tempo, and you have vocals in there that sort of flow in and out of the track almost like an instrument themselves.
It's amazing how you can have a song like this that hits with a sort of wild energy and semi-edginess, but still has this massive vastness or spaciousness in its undertone.
This song is followed immediately by 'Sleepwalkers", which is totally different, and delves deep into that classic post-punk style, with wavy, chorus effected guitars, some added synthesizers bringing new and aggressive but still flavorful and bright hooks to the table, and you can also hear elements of classic punk in there too.
One of the things I love about this track, in particular, is the vocal energy. The vocals are a lot more driving on this one, he comes through with this great sort of swagger and attitude, in a sense.
Of course there's always the bass guitar that also gives a classic punk style and aesthetic to the track as well.
Even this song blends styles seamlessly.
"Caustico" features acoustic guitars and sounds like something from a Radiohead record during the early 2000s.
This one is much more melodically driving to me and also features overlaying guitars that add depth to the song and bring in these beautiful layers of tone and texture, so that you are sort of swimming through this atmosphere it delivers.
This is definitely the kind of album that you listen to from start to finish, simply because checking out one or two songs will not give you anywhere near the full spectrum of what it has to offer in full.
This record, as a whole, delivers loads of those layers, tones, different instrumentation, sound sculpting, blends of digital and natural instrumentation, and a semi-theatrical underbelly that all come together and make something kind of unique.
"Ultraviolet" delivers more of this pop sensibility, thriving off of synthesizers and keys to deliver its balance. This is one of the tracks that really offer up that blend of color and edginess damn near perfectly.
It's super catchy, and it feels very radio-friendly to me.
You can hear a lot of synth-pop influence blending with garage punk, and hints of New Wave flowing through the veins of this record; this is one of the tracks that really displays that.
This whole thing is definitely built with fewer boundaries than whatever you may be used to, and I think it's very unique because it serves like such a full-bodied and Lush record in terms of bringing out soundscapes that sort of engulf you.
It's very easy to get swallowed up by this record, but it feels great to do exactly that.
The album has a wonderful way of pulling you away from wherever you are, whatever you're doing, and putting you in this almost fantastical sort of musical soundscape for a good chunk of time, and I adore that.
It's an escape. And it's been a long time since I've had a record serve as an escape for me.
By the time the record is over, you have to snap yourself back into reality again.
I definitely dig getting washed away and taken up by such a robust piece of musical work, with wonderfully diverse approaches, and the entire thing was written, produced, and performed by one person.
This was so brilliant, and I highly suggest, once again, listening to it from start to finish, because then you get all of this great stuff to take in, and also listening with headphones.
Listening to this record with headphones is one of the most fun ways to do it; you really get taken in by the entire thing, and it all just gives you so much to chew on.
This is definitely for fans of anything with experimental tonalities that sit firmly under the pop umbrella, but break out and branch off into all kinds of different directions in terms of genre and approach.
This was awesome.
Absolutely don't miss it.
Remember where you heard it first.
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