Dave Graney explains things this way: “The title comes from a 1920s book of French stories. I came across a new word and looked it up in the glossary and the meaning was put as ‘fearful wiggings’. I took it to mean ‘great anxiety’.”
Thankfully, with the exception of ‘Everything Is Perfect In It’s Beginning’[sic], there is nothing anxiety-provoking about the album. Rather, this latest collection of musings is mostly soothing. And it’s unmistakably Graney. The album is carefully crafted and a beautiful, languorous listen – in a time where 30-minute albums are de rigueur, the longer play is refreshing.
We are kicked out of the idyll only temporarily in ‘Everything Is Perfect’. It’s discordant, purposefully so, and makes for unsettling listening. Otherwise, nothing’s urgent here. Sometimes Graney’s barely singing, and the album overall is sparsely arranged. He is joined on ‘I Know You Can’t See Me’ by Lisa Gerrard, but you wouldn’t know it. She can sing the shit out of anything, but her vocals are confined to background ambience.
Mostly, the lyrics are surreal. It’s always been hard to know whether Graney is taking the piss. This album is no different. He’s smarter than the rest of us, but it doesn’t matter. Just listen.
3.5/5.
Fearful Wiggings is out now through Cockaigne.
