Paul Rosales aka Wonder Wheel is not only an amazingly talented man. Above all, he is unbelievably busy, having recorded no less than 36 albums between June 2003 and today. Thirty-six. And by that, we haven't even started listing all his incredible production efforts done for his SoCal pals.
In any case, this year things appear to become more serious for Paul, and eventually people start dragging this undeniable genius into the well-deserved spotlight. After dropping his first proper LP Wonder Wheel I under his own name via Care In The Community Recordings in late July, we're already blessed with his next release Wonder Wheel 23: Brave New World, available for pre-order right now on cassette via Tokyo's finest little label Sixteen Tambourines.
While Wonder Wheel I was merely a collection of songs from previous Wonder Wheel albums, some sort of summary of Paul's efforts since 2006 serving as a best-of compilation which in itself is quite remarkable considering the record being his debut output, Brave New World is lyrically and audibly coherent for the first time in the WW catalog, thus much more justifying the good old designation "album" than the LP. As usual recorded in his bedroom in Orange, California, the songs were produced between May and July 2010, inspired by what Paul himself calls "an emotionally charged time" that made him feel as if he had awoken "one morning to a bizarre parallel universe with no way of going back". And indeed, though "dark" would be an overstatement, there clearly is a certain amount of discomposure and worry perceptible in the songs' underlying tone. But most of all, the eleven tunes of Brave New World add up to an utterly amazing effort, once more procuring evidence that Paul Rosales is hands down one of the most breathtaking young talents we have at the moment.
Below, you can stream/download two album tracks and watch the very nice video for After Dark. And afterwards, be sure to head over to Sixteen Tambourines to support both the wonderful label and the artist.
Wonder Wheel - IMHO
Wonder Wheel - Eyes
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