Renaissance Men

Renaissance Men is a studio work THE WILDHEARTS delivered after a long interval, densely packing punk impulse, power-pop melody and heavy guitar into short songs. Ginger’s singing and songwriting throw in irony and wistfulness with the same momentum. A new album after roughly ten years, yet the band’s character is not lost in the least. On “Dislocated,” “Diagnosis,” “My Kinda Movie” and “Emergency (Fentanyl Babylon),” while running rough, the choruses have surprisingly sweet melody. Songs like “Let 'Em Go” and “Little Flower” breathe the band’s firm melodic sense too. Even with many notes, it does not become diffuse, each song pulling together with a sharp hook. It is a comeback work with momentum, on which the band’s chaos and pop sense mesh splendidly once again.