Decafwolf is the solo project of Dave Hurlow, a former member of The Darcys and part-time fantasy novelist. He’s just come to my attention through the release of his new EP, a companion piece to his novel Deep Sea Feline. It’s called Ventriloquist.

By Graeme Smith

Ventriloquist is a collection of songs that take on a difficult part of Dave’s life after he had left The Darcys, yet it’s not all doom and gloom. He approaches the subjects with plenty of humour, and vibrant, zany imagery, and his vocal delivery brings the emotion to life in a relatable way.

Musically, we get a wonderful blend of genres from the classic to the modern. Soul meets rock meets folk meets psych across its five tracks. The trippy journey is started by title track Ventriloquist which is raw, stripped-back and punchily upbeat. The groove of the instrumental is punctuated by Dave’s melancholic vocals which deliver some delicious wordplay. It’s an inviting start.

From there we get four more tales that sit somewhere between the life we know and one that sits somewhere adjacent to it. Nosferatu Hands makes handy use of supernatural imagery to tell its story while No Need is more natural in its storytelling. It simmers with a hypnotic folk rock arrangement. Ursula is poetically groovy before Quitting Caffeine closes the EP with some light self-reflection.

Ten years ago we nearly lost Dave from the world of music and that would have been a great shame. His Decafwolf project is forging new ground, and treats us to his unique wit and style. Aside from all the lyrical astuteness and surrealism there is something else – catchiness. Tracks like Nosferatu Hands and No Need have riffs and melodies that will firmly plant themselves in your head.

Ventriloquist is out now and if you happen to be reading this from Toronto, Canada, you might be interested to know that Decafwolf will be joined by friends on stage for a live launch of the EP at See-Scape there tonight.

You can check out Ventriloquist below.