Wilt – My Medicine

An album that starts with a song as instantly memorable and full of hooks as Distortion has a lot in its favour early on. On My Medicine Wilt sound like an American take on The Bluetones covering Nickelback, but Wilt are Irish. They’ve got R.E.M.‘s brand of pop studied to a T and the kind of originality that reminds one of My Bloody Valentine.

It hasn’t always been plain sailing for Cormac Battle and his chums though. As Kerbdog they produced some rather fine music but nobody listened and nobody wanted to know. Now, with a renaissance (again?!) of Brit Rock, this time with European perspectives, Wilt are well-placed to outlast the thousands of other guitar-wielding young fellow-me-lads touting their vehicles for success.

Understand, which really ought to be called What Took You So Long, is another track that’s just the right side of rock to be chart-compatible. While the album’s arrangements could never be accused of being complex, they work rather well on tracks like this and Take Me Home. If Battle manages to refine his southern accent a little then fans of REM’s early albums could find much solace here – in fact, they probably will anyway. But if it is synths you’re after, look elsewhere – this is a guitar band through and through.

And yet the harmonies betray a band capable of much more than a loud noise. The title track has the sort of immediacy of The Frank and Walters at their terrific best, while Stations goes to territories partially explored by Nirvana. Like the rest of the album, it rocks.

The mark of a good album is surely one that makes you want to listen to it again. ‘My Medicine’ does just that. Buy it and see what I mean.