Mossy Oak Shadow [CD] (ONLINE ORDER ONLY)

It's impossible to talk about Wicca Phase Springs Eternal without talking about transformation. For over a decade the singer, songwriter and producer Adam Andrzejewski has used the moniker as a wide creative umbrella, under which he's made a vast body of work that's as consistently compelling as it is constantly changing. This deft ability to blend sounds and styles has become his calling card, but no matter the genre signifiers-from rap beats, to new wave synths, to goth atmospherics-the beating heart of WPSE is Andrzejewski's singular voice and esoteric-yet-emotional lyricism. Those key elements have centered the project through musical explorations, and now on his latest full-length, Mossy Oak Shadow, Andrzejewski really puts them to the test. Shedding thumping 808s and intricate production in favor of a no-frills band and sparse live recording, the album is a stirring collection of hazy folk rock songs that prove Wicca Phase Springs Eternal can truly be anything. "I always kind of thought that as long as I have the Wicca Phase Springs Eternal name that I can do whatever I want," Andrzejewski explains. "The name provides a framework for the lyrics and aesthetics of the project-my songwriting with a mystical overlay to it-and as long as I can make something work within that, then the genre doesn't totally matter." That daring creative mentality is what steered Andrzejewski when he first started the WPSE project, through his work as a co-founder of the influential GothBoiClique collective, or as member of Thraxxhouse and Misery Club, and even with his punk side project, Pay For Pain. Still, few could have guessed that the new proper Wicca Phase Springs Eternal release would be a set of country-leaning folk songs performed without a wink in sight. As with all things Wicca Phase, Mossy Oak Shadow finds Andrzejewski fully committed. Mossy Oak Shadow might seem like a drastic pivot for the Wicca Phase Springs Eternal fans who got on board through his beat-driven modern classic albums, like 2016's Secret Boy or 2018's Suffer On-but it shouldn't come as a total surprise. WPSE releases have always dabbled in stripped-down acoustic songs, and even further back there's Andrzejewski's earlier work as a member of emo/indie stalwarts Tigers Jaw. When he left that band to focus on Wicca Phase in 2013, he was met with skepticism from listeners who were hesitant to embrace his new persona and experimental trap sound. Ironically now Andrzejewski has so thoroughly established Wicca Phase Springs Eternal that he's once again challenging his fans with a stark sonic shift-but this time by returning to the guitar-oriented songwriting he'd set aside. "Dylan, Will Oldman, Richard Thompson-what I like most about those songwriters is that I'm able to trust them," Andrzejewski explains. "If they do something that's totally strange I trust that they know what they're doing because it's coming from the same person that wrote all these other songs that I love. So even if it might take some time for me to get where they are, I want to try."