Dougie Poole - The Rainbow Wheel of Death [Black LP]

Format: LP
Catalogue No.: WCR134LP
Barcode: 0843563155523
Release Date: 24 Feb 2023
Genre: Folk/Americana

 A country songwriter from Brooklyn’s indie underground, Dougie Poole blurs the lines between genre and generation on his third solo album, ‘The Rainbow Wheel of Death’. Rooted in sharp songwriting and the organic sounds of a live-in-the-studio band, it’s a classic-sounding record for the modern world.
 ‘The Rainbow Wheel of Death’’s title nods to the colourful pinwheel that appears onscreen whenever a computer’s application stalls. For Poole - who found himself working as a freelance computer programmer once the pandemic brought his touring schedule to a temporary halt in 2020 - it’s also a reference to the holding pattern that’s left much of society feeling stuck, unable to move ahead in an uncertain world. That feeling was pervasive when he began writing these nine songs, finishing the first handful of tracks in his New York City bedroom and wrapping up the songwriting process in the recording studio itself.
 Once hailed as the ‘patron saint of millennial malaise’ for his sardonic wit and topical, tongue-in-cheek songwriting, Poole broadens his reach here. ‘High School Gym’ builds a bridge between 2020s lo-fi textures and 1980s pop vibes, while ‘Must Be In Here Somewhere’ - whose narrator sits at a lap top, searching through “every server burning in North Carolina” for a digital souvenir of a long-lost relationship - mixes modern concerns with classic country instrumentation.
 If records like 2017’s ‘Wideass Highway’ and 2020’s breakthrough release, ‘The Freelancer’s Blues’, told stories about uninspired Millennials languishing in dead end jobs and no good relationships, then ‘The Rainbow Wheel of Death’ focuses on more universal issues like mortality, love, and the passing of the time.
 With ‘The Rainbow Wheel of Death’, Dougie Poole breathes new life into country music, retaining the acclaimed elements of his previous work - drum machines, synthesizers, and his deep-set voice - while pushing toward something warm, organic and prismatic.
 Available on Vivid Purple coloured vinyl and standard black vinyl.
 Also available to independent retailers on signed Opaque Forest coloured vinyl.
 “Poole always had this poignancy lurking beneath his best songs, but he might be at his best when he’s bringing it to the surface.” - Fader
 “‘Wild Motion’ gives Brooklyn cowboy Dougie Poole a vast desert landscape to fill with sad-eyed Elvis croon” - Pitchfork
 “Breezy yet sophisticated, weird but surprisingly familiar” - Billboard
 “Heavy and hilarious in equal measure” - Vice

Tracklisting
The Rainbow Wheel of Death
High School Gym
Nothing on This Earth Can Make Me Smile
Worried Man Blues 2
Nickels and Dimes
I Lived My Whole Life Last Night
Beth David Cemetery
Must Be In Here Somewhere
I Hope My Baby Comes Home Soon