Album Review: T0W3RS – Wyatt

If T0W3RS’ full length If All We Have Is Time is the introspective side of the band, then the Wyatt EP is its extroverted cousin.

The 5-song EP clocks in around 20 minutes, but it covers a lot of ground. Wyatt feels like a sneak peek of where this creative local group is going.

“Möbius Strip” opens the record with a chugging guitar line building tension until the chorus bursts like firework. “Bounty” is an infinite shuffle that spins around itself with some catchy repetition.

With Wyatt, T0W3Rs will get plenty of Animal Collective comparisons. The bubbling rhythms and circular structures recall Merriweather Post Pavillion, but the centerpiece of the EP, the epic spaghetti western “Draw?Fold,” doesn’t fit that comparison.

For over 3 minutes, the band builds a brooding atmosphere before galloping into tumbleweed territory. This is the moment when it’s clear that T0W3RS is bigger than the bedroom.

This is followed by “Ours,” which sounds like the morbid side of Animal Collective. “Off with their head. I want to make them suffer as much as me,” the band sings. The call and response in the middle of the song is going to make for some incredible moments live in concert.

T0W3RS has the talent to pull off a transition bigger and more complex compositions, but if they want to avoid the obvious comparisons they’ll have to set themselves apart more than they have on Wyatt.

The Raleigh Wyatt release show is at Kings Barcade on November 3.