Personally, I Prefer My Music a Bit More Dangerous: A Review of Wild Flag’s Eponymous Debut, By Holly Homan

Personally, I prefer my music to be a bit more dangerous, but I can listen with an open mind. Wild Flag is a supergroup fronted by Carrie Brownstein of Portlandia and Sleater-Kinney fame. This long-awaited debut showcases a band capable of mastering and rocking diverse musical styles. Song types range from gentle and folky in “Glass Tambourine” to the harder rocking “Boom” where Carrie’s gutsy and provocative vocals rival the vocals of Grace Slick in her heyday.

Wild Flag also consists of Brownstein’s former Sleater-Kinney bandmate Janet Weiss, Helium’s Mary Timony, and Rebecca Cole from The Minders. Together they perform perky guitar sounds (from Brownstein and Timony) with Cole’s keyboards adding an almost romantic, flowery flourish. Throw in Weiss’ steady beat and some four-part female harmonies and you get hints of The Go Gos (but only a small hint) and the aforementioned Grace Slick, but this is a unique band with their own sound.

Although the lyrics are nothing heavy and the music is very approachable, this is a band that can cross the boundaries in musical styles and appeal to a wide audience.

The entire album may be heard on NPR.org here.

– Holly Homan