More about: Blood Wizard

Western Spaghetti is the collective of work from Nottingham-based artist Cai Burns a.k.a. Blood  Wizard, also known for being in Alcopop’s punk trio, Kagoule. And Western Spaghetti it is - a winding  concoction of bluesy, folk acoustic guitars intertwined with an alternative, jagged edge of rough  guitars and monochromatic vocalisms. Chuck in some small contemporary and psychedelic influences and you have Blood Wizard, a wonderful fresh sound – unique in many ways. 

“Blood Wizard began as more of a personal exploration than something I intended to package and sell,” he explains. “It’s an ever-changing idea of itself; something that’s evolved slowly and renewed my love for song writing.” 

It’s clear upon listening that Cai Burns is a natural storyteller and a gifted instrumentalist: singles  ‘Carcrash’ and ‘Total Depravity’ are significant highlights of this. The catchy melodies and enticing  hooks boast a pop-tinged knack for an ear-worm, contrasted with ‘Somehow I Knew’ and ‘Fruit’  which sees Burns delve more into his alternative influences, similar to that of Kurt Vile and Boy Pablo.  

It’s also clear that Cai doesn’t intend to stick to one sound. Particularly given that his roots begin in punk music, Western Spaghetti doesn’t offer us just one thing: it is something that manifests thoughts and feelings, changing throughout the record. It’s a prelude to any future work and shows that Blood Wizard is not an artist to be pigeon-holed. “One day I would want to sound like Dean Blunt, another day I would want to sound like Bert Jansch” Burns says. “The record is a kind of mash up of all the influences that I have had for a long time, but never had the opportunity to channel into  something.” 

One thing that particularly stands out about Blood Wizard’s sound is the dry vocall that Cai offers to each track, very similar to that of Árni Árnason of The Vaccines who had his time to shine on their Come of Age B-sides track, ‘Blow Your Mind’ – a niche reference I know, but one that stuck with me. This isn’t a bad thing either, it merely adds to the narrative style of the more Western-style,  spoken-word tracks such as ‘The Gloom’ and ‘Breaking Even’. However, Burns doesn’t shy away from  expressing himself for a big chorus when needs be.  

If you do nothing else on the 5th March – chow down on some Western Spaghetti.

Western Spaghetti arrives 5 March via Moshi Moshi Records.

More about: Blood Wizard