Creature Comforts: Ola Podrida’s 'Belly of the Lion' [Album Review]
Wingo having scored many films—most recently Gentlemen Broncos—it’s no surprise that this album is as cinematic as they come. He uses his lyrics like a camera, zooming in on gorgeously telling details to create a visual experience as well for the listener. Swimming in the fluid guitar of “Lakes of Wine” are these picturesque lines: “I hope someday I’m deaf and dumb and blind/ skinny dip with girls in lakes of wine/
and find my way by clutching to their thighs.”
If only most romantic films were as honest as an Ola Podrida track. More contained, if not as muscular, as 2007’s self-titled album, Belly of the Lion plays nimbly with the tension between his expansive sound and his inward lyrics. Its opening track, “The Closest We Will Ever Be,” initiates a theme inverting the typical freedom-of-the-open-road ballad. Against tableaus of sprawling Americana play out not visions of freedom, but tender appreciation for interpersonal tethers. Mournfully, but without resignation, Wingo sings, "There's always some shadows within the prettiest of scenes/ I'll cast one on you, and you'll cast one on me…That’s alright if this is the closest we will ever be.”
With each listen, it becomes more impressive how the vocals seem to waft in and out of the music on this album. Nothing juts out of these intimately composed scenes except for the details captured by the lyrics. Belly of the Lion is as a whole so understated, its tracks so composed and consistent with one another, that at times this seamlessness almost obscures its impact.
Only “Donkey,” the standout track, fully parts ways with restraint. Wingo builds tension over a loping beat and adds testimonial guitars and horns. Once assured of a fully rapt ear, he then delivers a chorus we’d gladly run away with. In fact, Belly of the Lion may one of the year’s best bedroom listens yet. Wingo’s voice is both familiar and fantastic. And lucky for us, he’s once again calling Austin home.
