The Daredevil Christopher Wright is indie-pop at its finest with new LP

By: Laura Stanley –

There’s something oddly fun about Eau Clarie, Wisconsin band The Daredevil Christopher Wright and people are finally starting to take notice. If you’re a fan of Dan Mangan, maybe you saw this Wisconsin trio, made up of brothers Jon and Jason Sunde and friend Jesse Edgington, opening up for Mangan on his cross-Canada tour last year and hopefully they captured your heart.

After first hearing them a couple of years ago through a Daytrotter session and their affiliation with Bon Iver frontman Justin Vernon, their storytelling lyrics of daredevils, near death experiences at sea, trips to the hospitals and their fun fuelled indie pop style of music, made me fall in love. In the Daredevil Christopher Wright’s sophomore album, The Nature Of Things (no references to David Suzuki within) all of these great qualities about the band are back for another collection of songs not to be missed.

Beginning The Nature of Things, “I and Thou” is organic, self-reflective, and quiet, a side of the band that’s equally brilliant and shown off a few times in the album. Towards the end of the record, “The Birds of the Air and the Flowers of the Field” has that similar tone, both lyrically and with regards to the more stripped-down feel.

Other songs from the record like “Divorce” and “Pale Horse, Pale Rider” simply shine in a carefree setting you would not think would be home to emotionally driven lyrics but are with ease. The vocal harmonization of the band in “Ames, IA” and “Church” show just how talented the band is and how they are not afraid to push the boundaries of their sound, creating songs that are distinct to say the least.

The album closes with “The Animal of Choice,” a song that was also on The Daredevil Christopher Wright’s EP, released last year, The Longsuffering Song. “The Animal of Choice” is one of the strongest The Daredevil Christopher Wright songs they’ve recorded so far – inexcusably infectious.

Though the genre of “indie-pop” certainly includes a lot of bands as of late, The Daredevil Christopher Wright is indie-pop at it’s, unique, finest.