Brothers and sisters sound the siren, the long-awaited return of Wolfmother is well and truly upon us. It is official, the transcendental dreamweavers will return with a wonderfully ambitious new record, Cosmic Egg, scheduled for release on October 12. This has been preceded by the release of the joyously shredding first single, “New Moon Rising”, an instant add for Rock Radio.
It's been a long road back following the internationally lauded, self-titled debut Wolfmother record, one that sold over 1.4 million copies worldwide and earned praise from all and sundry, including a Grammy. However it's a road Wolfmother had to travel in order to find themselves in the inspired place they are today, about to take the exit to somewhere over the rainbow, halfway along the path to righteousness and rounding the corner of a new beginning, right outside the dragon's lair.
And here they're clutching a confident, bold, kaleidoscopic step forward titled Cosmic Egg. The seeds for Cosmic Egg were sown when the touring cycle for the debut record came to a close, and frontman and guitarist Andrew Stockdale sat down to start from scratch at his home studio in Brisbane. Following an extensive gestation period and the enlistment of new band members, Stockdale and his band of merry men, with producer Alan Moulder, rode ashore in picturesque hippy mecca Byron Bay, Australia, to begin pre-production.
Moulder meanwhile brought a giant hessian sack of worldly producer experience to the table, filled with milestone works from the likes of My Bloody Valentine, The Smashing Pumpkins, Ride and Nine Inch Nails. From there the process transplanted to Los Angeles for recording proper to commence, a location that added another dimension of rich experience to Cosmic Egg, and the perfect place to make magic from one's own mind, a fact concisely reinforced in the resultant 50-odd minute suite.
Cosmic Egg is, in short, the sound of the Wolfmother world being rethunk and cracked wide open, with a sprawling, jubilant galaxy of musical and metaphysical harmony spilling forth. The expedition is welcome to all.
