Exit Wounds

Album review

It's been 25 years since the Wallflowers hit it big with Bringing Down the Horse, a collection of songs—produced by the terrific T-Bone Burnett—that seemed like lightning in a bottle when the band never repeated its success. But in 2020, the movie The King of Staten Island reminded the world just how irresistible the album's "One Headlight" is. Seeing frontman Jakob Dylan join Beck, Cat Power and Fiona Apple onstage in the documentary Echo in the Canyon stirred a certain nostalgia. And the '90s are a huge influence in indie rock and alt-pop right now. The time seems right for a Wallflowers revival, and on Exit Wounds—their first album in nine years—they may not quite capture that lightning again, but there are traces of that old magic. You can hear it in the upbeat jangle of "Roots and Wings," with Dylan putting some swagger into lyrics like "I showed you how to swing/ I showed you how to strut/ That's my mojo you're using/ That's my wine getting you drunk." (The song also underscores how much more a matured Dylan sounds like Springsteen than like his dad, Bob.) It's also in the easy ramble of "I Hear the Ocean (When I Wanna Hear Trains)" and pretty-girl-in-trouble ballad "The Daylight Between Us," with weary lyrics like "The candles we lit had melted on the cake as if they were over it." There are surprises, too, though. "Move the River" revels in dub rhythms. The wonderful Shelby Lynne shows up—serving harmony on the pedal-steel country-rock of "Maybe Your Heart's Not It No More," taking a verse on the smoky ballad "Darlin' Hold On," and offering a brandy-rich counterpoint to Dylan's sandpaper rasp on all four tracks she graces. And "Who's That Man Walking 'Round my Garden" finds the usually stoic Dylan in a Jagger mood as the band stomps with funk drums, dirty guitar and the live-wire keys sound that is a signature of producer Butch Walker. © Shelly Ridenour/Qobuz