Pen Pals: John Ross of Wild Pink
Dulling the Horns, Americana*, contemporary optimism
There’s a tendency, in music writing, to bestow a great album with narrative heft: this is the artist’s climactic opus, the moment when ambition meets hard-won execution. Potential is fulfilled; the band has, at long last, arrived. It’s tempting to use these superlatives when describing Wild Pink’s fifth album Dulling the Horns, but I’m also hesitant, because every Wild Pink album is a crowning achievement. If there’s any trajectory, it’s one of sustained, repeated brilliance.
Wild Pink’s standalone triumphs comprise one of the decade’s singular catalogs. 2018’s Yolk in the Fur and 2021’s A Billion Little Lights unfurl like landscapes, yet retain delicate warmth — an amber glow emanating from within. Their fourth album ILYSM, written and recorded as frontman John Ross underwent cancer treatment in 2021, is stunning in its modesty, a stately suite of resilient guitar-pop. They’re feats of depth yet shufflingly self-conscious, insisting that they not be taken too seriously.
As an entry point, I’ll recommend three desert-island singles. I’m partial to the spare earnestness of “There Is a Ledger,” the way the percussion track blooms into a warehouse-sized arrangement without sacrificing intimacy. The strings and slide guitar on “Oversharers Anonymous” evoke sprawling western vistas; Ross’s lyrics alternate between a smirk and a snug embrace. Still my favorite is “See You Better Now,” the linchpin of ILYSM. The jangly chords always make me misty, and the second-person verses are classic Ross. He has a knack for sympathetic portraits, even in passing — in the first verse, a child transfixed by a pro wrestling broadcast traces the images onto the TV screen with a Sharpie.
Dulling the Horns is the biggest Wild Pink record to date, production centering on Ross and Mike Brenner’s guitar work. The grunge fuzz of “Cloud or Mountain” and “Rung Cold” reveal elegant bells and keyboard instrumentals; the wall-of-sound on “Disintegrate” yields to a succession of sax breaks. The band enjoys particular esteem among writers (browsing press from years past, I stumbled upon poetic tributes by and ), and Dulling the Horns proves Ross is, for all his sidelong glances, a bona fide rock star. He writes in shards, Carver-esque interstitials that might trend sad if he ever indulged that instinct. The narrative pearls (“Jesus christ was the first four-letter word that you learned”) and pop-culture touchpoints (“The Bullets became the Wizards the year that Jordan wore the black beret” — yeah, what was that about?) bear reflection; there are entire stories and histories in Ross’s couplets.
The U.S. leg of their 2024 tour kicks off tonight in Kingston, wrapping later this month with three shows at that institution of institutions, Union Pool. In our email exchange, John and I discuss the Dulling the Horns sessions, Americana as concept and genre, and hedging optimism.
The first thing that jumps out at me on Dulling the Horns is how muscular the guitar work is. Can you tell me about your vision for the guitar sound on this record, and how it was realized during the engineering and mixing processes? I read you embraced home recording during the ILYSM sessions — did you incorporate any new equipment or effects this time around?
The plan was always to make it a guitar record which was something I avoided since probably A Billion Little Lights. Even the guitars on Self Titled and Yolk In The Fur are pretty polite sounding comparatively. The decision really came from spending years touring. I find it pretty difficult to bring the more “chill” songs to life on stage. It’s just kinda boring, for me anyways, to just play some of the songs on previous records and I was always drawn to the heavier parts of any set we were playing. I wanted to make an album of songs that are just very fun to play live. And I wanted to write a record that sounded like the band when you see us live. There’s been some disconnect there, for me anyways, on previous records ie. not being able to bring some of the full arrangements from the record to the stage. This record sounds like the band when you see us live and that’s really satisfying to me. I was inspired by guitar rock records like Magnolia Electric Co by Songs: Ohia and Ghosts of the Great Highway by Sun Kil Moon.
I’m not sure if you consider “Americana” a meaningful distinction, as either a concept or a genre. But you’ve been vocal about your reverence for Springsteen and Tom Petty — especially their late-career records, where they were able to explore heartland themes on their own terms. I’m curious if your years living and performing in New York have informed or complicated your relationship with those sounds and ideals?
I think being called Americana is cool and kinda funny. Definitely not something I ever set out to do but I do understand why it’s happened. I do love that kind of music. Petty and Springsteen are evergreen for me. I like to play around with genres and explore non-rock but their music is like a north-star for me. I always try to keep songs “songy” rather than get carried away with just making “vibes” and those two songwriters specifically keep me on track. The Americana label is very comfortable for me though, I like it.
I’ve noticed a lot of your lyrics, especially on Dulling the Horns, are written in the second-person. When you write, do you tend to have specific individuals or subjects in mind? Are there certain themes that call for greater intimacy?
A lot of the time I replace “I” and “me” with “you” because I think it makes for better songwriting. I’m able to go places in a song I probably might not if I were just saying “me” and “I”. I guess it covers my tracks a little bit. “You” also feels kinda urgent and direct in a way that I like.
I often find myself returning to your records when I’m feeling shitty or cynical. Can you tell me about the role of optimism in your work, and how that’s influenced the Wild Pink project?
That’s really cool to hear. I think Wild Pink songs are generally pretty optimistic sounding. I like major keys in pop songs and I don’t use a lot of minor chords. Lyrically though, if I’m expressing something really positive, optimistic I definitely word it in a way that I mean it and won’t get tired of singing later. The other side of the optimism coin is an album like ILYSM being pretty misunderstood. I think people took it to be way more sentimental than it is and maybe missed some of the winks/humor.
I saw you’re heading on a European tour right after the album release. Any plans as far as bringing these songs to audiences overseas?
We just got back from the EU/UK and had a blast! It was really cool playing these new songs so far from home. The UK kinda pops up a few times in the record so was fun especially playing there. We’re leaving Friday for our headline shows around the eastern US and I’m even more excited for those shows. Catch us in a city near you!