I found WOOL via Zach Oden, former guitarist with Annuals. I should probably explain that Annuals were a definitive band in my musical timeline: When I first moved to Manchester I was a small town boy obsessed with Joy Division and whose only real access to music was HMV and NME. Now living in an environment with Piccadilly Records on my doorstep, music venues down every road, and access to the internet at home (myspace!) the discovery of new music was an everyday adventure. Comparable to early Arcade Fire, Annuals played Night & Day on a tour promoting debut album Be He Me and I went away transfixed with wonder.

WOOL is the vision of Raleigh (North Carolina) songwriter Troy Brian Hancock and along with the aforementioned Oden, bassist/keyboardist Johnny Hobbs and drummer Raymond Finn, they have created a full bodied sound that balances the playful vocal elements of dream-pop with the patient build of a post-rock outfit. Bulletin Air is beautifully crafted arrangement that brings to mind Explosions In The Sky fronted by Wild Nothing’s Jack Tatum. Its quite simply one of the best songs I’ve heard all year, with its finale soaring like a bird through a sun kissed sky.

https://www.facebook.com/WOOLnc

Phill Young