Donovan Wolfington – How to Treat the Ones You Love

Garage-tinged indie-punks Donovan Wolfington have wasted no time in taking spotlight.   All it took was the launch of their high energy full length debut to land them a spot on the growingly impressive Topshelf Records roster.  Their rough-cut, spirited approach bucks trends in their adoption of indie-pop hooks meet the occasional abrasive throaty concoction.   Now with the release of their sophomore full length, How to Treat the Ones You Love, the band feels as if deep in the throes of a burgeoning career path rather than as the relative new kids on the block implied by the briefness of their existence.

Donovan Wolfington take on a number of related and unrelated sounds, but their most constant is one of indie-pop played with some punk spunk.  At their most tuneful, they feel like a less fuzzed, slightly harder incarnation of The Thermals.  Opener “Ollie North” along with others like “Mercurus” takes this to heart with simple, hook-heightened riffs meshing with Neil Berthier’s steady, static tempoed vocal call taking the early reigns.  A dark element underpins the steadied outlook, but one open to jolts of expressive clarity as snottier and snarkier songs like “Basalisk” and “Manchac” demonstrate increasingly emotional vocal capacity.  Likenesses to Pavement’s slacker charm will garner appreciation.

What sets Donovan Wolfgang apart from others is the unapologetic willingness to turn on a dime and blast their brains all over the wall for the sheer adrenaline of it.  A stand alone track like “Hxc Punk” does just that, barking and blowing out like some sort of hardcore 80’s NYC punk mavericks.  “Locust” diverges even further, replacing vocals with dark, intermittent spoken word in a sludgy, destructive post-punk atmosphere.  Depending on who you are, these moments will either make or break How to Treat the Ones You Love.  Either way, there’s no denying that they distance Donovan Wolfgang from the rest of the pack. 

Of course, the songs most worth showing up for are those like hook driven, feel-good sliders like “John Cena” (which is actually rather dank in content).  But considering the road to recording How to Treat the Ones You Love’s involves the death of close friend and producer Rick Nasier and the departure of two of the original bandmates, it’s not surprising to feel such liveliness amidst such resilience. The band must have been determined to move forward, even if some of the album’s darker moments serve to document a degree of turmoil.  With How to Treat the Ones You Love, Donovan Wolfington confirms their conviction and soon to be dominant stature in the indie-punk scene.