After years of living in the shadows of an underground that was once the mainstream status quo for decade after decade, rock n’ roll is starting to feel like a relevant force to be reckoned with in 2021. There’s a lot of interest in the American indie circuit, and if you’re curious as to the reason why, I’d recommend examining the works of players like Jordan Wolfe, whose new single “Different” is attracting a ton of buzz for both its creator as well as the genre he’s working so hard to resurrect. While sporting a lot of Greta Van Fleet energy from start to finish, there’s nothing specifically retro or throwback-ish about the beefiness of this single; instead, it feels like the second-coming rock fans have been praying for.
One of the first things that I noticed about “Different” when I listened to it over the weekend was its lack of pretentiousness. Both the arrangement of the instruments and the structure of the verses feel really streamlined and devoid of the overwhelming swagger that has become all too common in indie rock nowadays (especially when it comes to the harder stuff like what Wolfe is playing here), and because there’s no ego, we can appreciate the skillset he’s presenting all the more. This is frills-free, anti-pomp rock n’ roll, and it’s precisely what a lot of critics have been claiming didn’t exist in the genre anymore – at least within the reach of average listeners like you and me.
Wolfe’s lead vocal is as much a star of this performance as anything the guitar is producing at the forefront of the recording, and I love the fact that he isn’t burying it in virtuosities from the percussion and the guitar. It’s easy to put a lot of instrumental fireworks in place of a smooth singer’s voice, but to couple strong lines with a linear groove as seamlessly as this man does in his new single takes a level of talent that just isn’t as standard as it ought to be in any genre of music. Rock needs some real heroes to lead it into the future, and from the looks of this piece and his overall ambitiousness, I think this artist is making a strong campaign for such a role now.
Thoughtful rock n’ roll has never got the credit it really deserves outside of the occasional rave review for whatever project Josh Homme or Jack White are attached to in 2021, but someone like Jordan Wolfe has the potential to make a difference on this front like few others in or outside of his local scene can. He’s a details guy, and if he wasn’t I don’t think that we would be getting as much meat out of this performance as we do every time it’s played over a good pair of speakers. Wolfe has a lot going for him at the moment, and anyone with the audacity to say otherwise very clearly hasn’t listened to “Different” and the majestic riffs it offers.
Heather Savage
