Vocal charisma has always been Ezra Vancil’s strongest suit, but it might take a backseat to the compositional diversity of his new EP We Were Wild this month. Produced at the highest of standards and made to represent so much more than just another pop record in a sea of interesting releases this year, We Were Wild invites its audience into a web of short but incredibly intimate stories that seem to intertwine by the time we reach the latter half of the tracklist. At under a half hour in total running time, it’s an easy listen, but one that has yet to leave me unstimulated after a spin.
The title track in this record, as well as “Texas Hills” and “Wish I Had an Angel,” features a brilliant, harmony-based warmth that wasn’t quite as clear an attribute in past Vancil releases, but I don’t think it’s a new part of his sound. There are several elements to We Were Wild – such as the melodic panache, the moxie in my man’s performance, and the flexibility of almost every hook – that I felt were present in songs like “Take Me With You” and “Patience” but weren’t quite getting the spotlight they deserved. They’re front and center in this disc, and justifiably so.
Vancil takes his time cultivating the narratives in “Big Time” and “One Big Heart,” and because of his meticulousness as a performer, this doesn’t interrupt the fluidity of the material here at all. On the contrary, his delicate management of the poeticisms in his lyrics and the pace with which he delivers them to the listener further reinforce his passion for the stories he’s trying to tell. There’s nothing rushed nor forced about We Were Wild, authenticating our singer’s motives for creating this EP in the first place.
“Permission” could easily be the record’s lead single, but I don’t think it’s the only potential radio hit in this tracklist. “Texas Hills” hits us with such a provocative into at the start of the record that I could see it finding a home on the college dial quite easily, and the same could be said of “Big Time” as well. Both of those songs borrow slightly from vintage alternative rock concepts, but in this time and place, they feel as far away from being a throwback as original content can get.
It’s hard not to fall in love with the music and masterful talent Ezra Vancil is known for, and even if you weren’t sold on this act beforehand, We Were Wild should have the right stuff to turn you onto his sound for good. Vancil isn’t part of a trending class in modern singer/songwriters, but instead a small sect of purists that are committed to keeping the bedrock of classic folk/rock alive and well in the 21st century. I’m confident he isn’t about to lose traction as a composer anytime soon, and once you hear We Were Wild, I think you’ll see what I mean. All in all, this is one player that I can see a lot of diverse audiences getting excited about.
Chadwick Easton