The Birds Of Desert Sun is a longing journey towards Sixties Rock’n’Roll between London, New York & the California desert. And if you’re longing to hear an explosive new album, we highly recommend this one.
Courtesy of Oimo Music ~ Album Release Date November 25, 2022
Even if Reeperbahnfestival announces him as “Weird Guy From Bavaria”, this guy does not sound Bavarian at all. Michi Rieder lives out his soft spot for Sixties Rock, Neo Folk & Brit Pop to the fullest under the name of his great-grandpas “Nikolaus Wolf”.
With his first 10’ EP “Roekki Zimt” (2017), Nikolaus Wolf has already caused some stir, since he “unites the spirit of the British 1960s with contemporary folk interpretations” (intro). He composes music for film and plays over 100 shows with his band in half of Europe, while the song “Human Lights” runs up and down in a commercial in the EU & USA.
It has taken a period of five years for Nikolaus Wolf to finally be in the starting blocks with new material. He has experienced a lot and also has a lot to tell – after all, he has become father for the second time and recently survived a tumor. And in addition to the pandemic, there was still this inspiring fire in the winter of 2021, which gave birth to his new album. “Easy Riders” (01/22) was a great start out of the pandemic desert, accompanied by numerous hymns of praise on indie radios and international music blogs. Michi Rieder was astonished when even James Bond villain and trainspotting cult star Robert Carlyle celebrated the psychedelic and sitar-soaked sound of Nikolaus Wolf via Twitter.
On the second single “Brother’s Fist” (03/22), Nikolaus Wolf returns from the desert trip directly into the dirty, rumbling Rock’n’Roll Garage, the song is his tribute to 60s heroes such as The Animals, Them and Everly Brothers. A stylish game with the stylistics of music history, which runs like a common thread through the new album and can be guessed why the Süddeutsche Zeitung calls Nikolaus Wolf a “chameleon of pop music of the second half of the 20th century Century“.
The Birds Of Desert Sun is a departure into darker, more serious corners, from the burning hot sun to the dark side of the moon. The vultures circle here longingly and hungry over the dusty and neglected pop landscape. Between beat-heavy Britpop pearls (“Get It On”, “Moon Mono”), mantra-like desert sound (“Easy Riders”, “White River”) and dark indie rock (“Wasteman”, “40 Fingers”), they also find influences by Sixto Rodriguez (“Honkey Boy”) or George Harrison (“Over The Clouds”), even a tribute to Ennio Morricone („Birds Of Desert Sun“) finds its place on the record. Everything is carried and held together by Michi Rieder’s striking voice, a certain sympathy for Liam Gallagher or John Lennon cannot be ignored.
Overall, the new Nikolaus Wolf record sounds very peculiar and unconventional – an essential reason for this is Austria’s analogue mastermind Thomas Pronai. In the legendary Cselley Mühle in Burgenland (AT), both worked together and produced the record all analog on tape machines. The cheerful character of the debut EP “Roekki Zimt” has not completely disappeared and flickers again and again, but the ten new songs – both musically and thematically – are a lot rougher and angular. The Birds Of Desert Sun is a longing journey towards Sixties Rock’n’Roll between London, New York & the California desert – as if it were at a wild class reunion of Rolling Stones, the Kinks & Velvet Underground. The album will be released as 12′ vinyl and digital on 11/25/2022 on Michi Rieder’s in-house label Oimo Music.
