AMG Review of Lycanthropy

Kenyon Hopkin
All Music Guide

Patrick Wolf has no insecurities about his last name, identity, and supposed upbringing among animals. In fact, Lycanthropy (the belief that one is a wolf) begins with a wolf's howl. None of this, however, should detract from his formative compositions. This debut is relentlessly resourceful, never failing to reveal a new instrument (accordion, violin, recorder, to name a few). Augmented by laptop, Wolf's curious stories come to fruition with his accent-thick vocals and dark, biographical lyrics. After (what else?) "Wolf Song" secures roots in his Irish blood, he explores inner conflicts of war and peace ("Peter Pan" and "A Boy Like Me," his most accessible track), a newfound life in Paris (the percussion-heavy "Paris"), gender ("Lycanthropy"), and child molestation ("The Childcatcher"). Known to keep a bird's nest in his hair, this young, eccentric prodigy is well beyond his years, making the most from a completely unusual childhood.