{"product_id":"laughing-matter","title":"Laughing Matter","description":"\u003cp\u003eA little less than two years on from 2016’s \u003ci\u003ePlum\u003c\/i\u003e, Californian scrap polymorphs Wand release their newest, and fifth long playing record, \u003ci\u003eLaughing Matter\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003ci\u003eLaughing Matter \u003c\/i\u003eis marked by the confidence and exuberance of a band that has lived, feuded, thrived and grown together through years of dedicated jamming, touring and recording, across western and eastern states, continents and mind-sets. In this world that insists we must increasingly rely upon ourselves, Wand listen to each other, and this is the sound.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLargely recorded on the infamous southern border of broken, decadent America, \u003ci\u003eLaughing Matter\u003c\/i\u003e belongs to the after-life. After the dull flood. As rock n roll lurched sideways and fell away, drunkenly lost in a funhouse mirror of…recycled Funhouses. With no major label funding, no management or lawyers, no corporate distribution, near zero social media presence and no commercial dealings whatsoever (with only poor, pitiful Drag City to help them carry the flag!), Wand have toured the world a bajillion times in five years and made four varied and compelling records while accumulating a devoted following. There may be a future in rock music beyond slapping rote regurgitations onto a lifeless syntactic grid. Wand are proof you don’t have to be an industry toy to sell records – that, with devotion and time, the seeds you plant with intention and care will grow back into the world.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSwerving between out-of-focus parable, travel diary, pep talk, polemic, love song, and lullabye, Laughing Matter is a tough and tender album, its eyes on a lot of prizes. Where \u003ci\u003ePlum\u003c\/i\u003e held the tension of its five band members getting on their feet, the songs on \u003ci\u003eLaughing Matter \u003c\/i\u003eare concentrated and relaxed, even as they search for the right accusations to hurl at cynics and megalomaniacs. The music is distilled and sculpted from an ash heap of collected improvisations, riven with audio-verite; the methods and instrumentation are traditional handmade rock ‘n’ roll. Yet the unorthodox arrangements of \u003ci\u003eScarecrow,\u003c\/i\u003e the joyous embrace of pastiche and disruption on \u003ci\u003eWalkie Talkie\u003c\/i\u003e, the radical eclecticism of shapes and approaches on \u003ci\u003eThin Air,\u003c\/i\u003e the ascendant choruses of \u003ci\u003eWonder\u003c\/i\u003e are all decidedly contemporary. This music is not revivalism or throwback; Wand are a precision instrument, a band that probes and teases style, genre, trope and anachronism into material, according to a law of motion that is aimed directly toward an uncertain future.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eLaughing Matter\u003c\/i\u003e is a record about love in a time of terror, about making the best use of the surveillance technology available today. It calls you down from panic room labyrinths, to work the deep tissue of unravelling trauma we all carry so dear. The 15 songs on this record face their energy outward, to take with you through a common world that can’t suffer its human abusers much longer. \u003ci\u003eLaughing Matter\u003c\/i\u003e encourages you to shake hands with your old demons, to lay your pathologies to rest, to hold your spirit close, and let your body do what’s next.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Drag City","offers":[{"title":"LP | x2","offer_id":50476360663371,"sku":"1056262","price":29.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"Tape","offer_id":50476361089355,"sku":"1056264","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50476360106315,"sku":"1056263","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/af682b57-b533-46b2-bd98-4489fcfa2737_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727458509","url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/products\/laughing-matter","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}