This slow burner slipped past me when it was released in February. Hopefully, this brief piece will shed some light on what is a well-deserving album and worthy of your attention.
Milwaukee’s Old Pup, the warmly haunted folk outfit fronted by songwriter and pedal steel virtuoso Will Hansen, has released its sophomore album, Spider Towns. Dropped independently on February 28th, the record is an intimate collection of lyrically vivid and occasionally experimental country-tinged songs, solidifying Hansen’s reputation as a masterful storyteller.
Recorded in various locations—from living rooms and warehouse hallways in Milwaukee and New Orleans to the wide-open fields of New Mexico—Spider Towns carries an ethereal and immediate quality. Hansen’s lyrical dexterity is the album’s anchor, seamlessly weaving the mundane with the interstellar. As fellow songwriter Chris Acker aptly puts it, “Old Pup is Rosetta-stoned.”
The title track, “Spider Towns,” sets the tone with its sepia-toned, twangy intro before plunging into a world of “absurd & comical existential sensitivity.” Lines depicting a hungover teacher and leftover pizza paint starkly familiar scenes, culminating in a poignant tribute to the late poet David Berman with the closing line, “Suffering jukebox, brimming with cobwebs & spider towns / thousands of songs.”
From the raw modernity of “Stalactites,” featuring ethereal cello and fingernail percussion, to the impromptu New Orleans living room recording of “Bee,” the album travels through a varied sonic landscape. The sprawling, American entropy odyssey of “House of Wind” showcases serpentine pedal steel, while the quirky ad-break, “Character Study: Inflatable Dancer,” injects a dose of experimental humour.
Throughout Spider Towns, Hansen finds profundity in the everyday, shrugging at the ephemeral in the waltzing “Passing” and delivering delicate, melancholic hooks in “Butter.” The album captures moments of quiet absurdity, heartfelt earnestness, and pastoral mystique, leaving listeners entangled in its beautifully crafted web.
Bandcamp: https://oldpup.bandcamp.com/album/spider-towns