Depending on which way you want to look at it, Oh Pioneer is either the 3rd ‘official’ album from Peter Wilson, or his (hang on a second whilst I count – the man’s productivity is ridiculous!) 10th album overall. Yes, 10th. And 8 of those have come within the last four years, most of which were released without the help of a major label and were the vehicles for various flights of fancy that crossed Wilson’s mind. The man otherwise known as Duke Special [Twitter/Facebook] makes music for the thrill of it, and not because he’s concerned about being commercially viable. This is the same man who performs his biggest hit, Freewheel, in a guise different to its album version, just because he can.
If anything, he’s moved away from the material that was present on his first two albums, and used various other outlets to develop into a songwriter who possesses real finesse. His music is definitely geared more toward immediacy than his career trajectory might have suggested. He’s been operating under the radar for a few years now, but his new record finds him on top form, and if he finds himself thrust back into the spotlight, it will be because Oh Pioneer is an album of incredible depth and maturity, proving that Wilson has come on leaps and bounds since the general public last heard from him.
It has been typical of Wilson to start his albums with a flourish, but if you’re only just picking up where he left off after 2008’s I Never Thought This Day Would Come, then the first of many surprises arrives with the understated opener Stargazers of the World Unite, a song that is a step up from what’s gone before in a number of ways, containing a sparkling melody and an infectious enthusiasm. As the fact that he seems to never stop writing would suggest, the album pinballs between styles, with the powerful, jaunty Little Black Fish contrasting wonderfully with the laid-back lead single Punch of a Friend, which in itself has nothing in common with the raucous early album highlight Snakes in the Grass. There doesn’t seem to be anything off-limits, and that’s what’s always made Wilson’s output so compelling.
Out of all the songs he’s written, however, it seems he may have delivered his absolute finest one to date on the astonishingly powerful Condition. In contrast to the songs it’s surrounded by (though its sparse arrangement has things in common with Nothing Shall Come Between Us), it finds its creator in particularly contemplative form (its title refers to the human condition) as, with devastating clarity, he reflects on himself, unable to make up his mind (‘I am holy / I’m a disaster / I am fucked / I am an answer), and in doing so presents his most emotionally-charged, not to mention universal, song to date.
It is at this point that the album begins to open out, throwing out a number of potential future singles (Lost Chord, in particular, is a fan favourite and would do well with wider exposure) as the focus shifts to bigger themes. Wilson has no trouble writing songs about big issues – as if we needed any reminding of that fact – but this time around, he’s cloaked them in even more widescreen and insistent melodies. He may not have his eye on commercial gain, but he deserves to do well with songs as intelligent and well-crafted as these. He continues to be a pioneer in his own field.
Oh Pioneer is out next Monday on Adventures in Gramophone.
