Wilderness

Baltimore’s Wilderness obscure things for the sake of art. You won’t find them discussing their music, they simply tour and put out albums for people to absorb. Their third album, (K)no(w)here, takes their practice to its most expansive corner, working as one whole piece, based on a collaboration with visual artist Charles Long they undertook earlier this year. Though it’s divided into eight tracks, the album works as a linear narrative without any distinct concept or theme. That said, it’s not an alienating experience; Wilderness execute the performance masterfully, making it a cohesive but also arresting album, like its predecessors, Wilderness and Vessel States. In fact, by comparison, (K)no(w)here doesn’t stray as far from their cerebral, multi-layered experiments as the concept calls for. It’s still impossible not to speak of their cascading, intricate guitar work and James Johnson’s shrill yelp without mentioning PiL. However, with their third album, Wilderness are destined to move beyond any such comparisons, and quietly develop their music into an audio companion for the fascinatingly ornate collages that continue to grace their album covers