Second single from “Lightness EP”, out October 23rd.
Dex Wolfe is a Seward-based multi-instrumentalist that has been a mainstay of the Minneapolis music scene for years. In acts such as Rivers and Undlin & Wolfe, he embraced a lush, pastoral folk sound, but as he’s ready to release music under his own name, Wolfe experiments with darker, at times more complicated, tones. His debut EP Lightness showcases Wolfe’s dynamic ability to weave jazz, post-rock, and bits of folk music. The opening track “Lightning” is filled with frayed guitar plucks that stagger along, while fuzzy synth wails threaten to plunge the song into abysmal gloom. Although Wolfe doesn’t spare us from any somber or chaotic moments at the EP’s beginning, he does eventually guide us into tranquility with the closer “Love Breaks.” Lightness is a prologue, a tenebrous maze that exits into a graceful clearing, and an intricate glimpse into Dex Wolfe’s elaborate work to come.
Here’s a quote about the track from Dex: I wrote Highly Likely during a year of recovery and healing. I was learning to be better to myself and how to articulate and understand my own traumas. As I did this work, I needed to take space from many friends and from much of my community. I felt the spectrum of gray areas between alleviation, escapism, and destruction. Altering our state of mind is an ambiguous journey. There is so much complexity that we don’t talk about when it comes to drug use. I intimately saw the opioid epidemic hit Minneapolis, and I saw how gray the space is between recreational and destructive, how it can be both and also slide back and forth.
music won't save you 