Deaf Charlie is not what you expect.
Named after a train robber who was a member of Butch Cassidy’s crew, the group is the duo of Pearl Jam’s Jeff Ament and Fitz and the Tantrums co-founder John Wicks. Their debut album “Catastrophic Metamorphic” is a refreshing blast of pop-forward rock unlike anything either of the two have released in the past.
The album opens with “Losing My Mind,” a song that sounds like what you might get if you put the dreamier psychedelics of The Flaming Lips and the quirky grooves of early Modest Mouse together in a blender. “Something Real,” the third track, is anchored by a heavily fuzzed-up riff and punctuated with a spasm of keyboards and saxophone at its close. Elsewhere, Ament flexes some of his punk rock roots and Devo influences on songs like “Ched Man” and the Buzzcocks cover “Sittin’ Round At Home.”
But that’s not all of the unexpected twists the record has to offer. A handclap is featured throughout some of “Orange Flag,” which obviously isn’t a nod to Wicks’ former band, but when you hear a handclap how can you not think of his former band’s trademark song. The song also flashes some unexpected reggae rhythms, which is a welcome wrinkle Wicks brings to the table, and it ends with a cacophony of horns.
Ament and Wicks bonded over the death of a mutual friend in 2018 and put their grief into the song “Comeback Player of the Year,” which Ament wrote and Wicks provided percussion. The track is one of the quieter songs on the album and it led to the creation of “Catastrophic Metamorphic,” an album filled with songs you wouldn’t expect to hear from any of Ament’s many side projects or his main band Pearl Jam.
This unexpected left turn is thanks to Wicks who brings a pop spark to the pair’s creative process. Ament has pretty much been locked into stadium rock mode for most of his career and collaborating with Wicks has resulted in one of his most varied, fun and exciting projects. And as much as Ament seems to thrive working with Wicks, Wicks also feeds off Ament’s creative energy. Working with Ament seems to have unlocked the use of a wide range of percussive blasts for Wicks and allowed him to be a bit more loose with his delivery of driving rhythms.
“There’s real optimism in this batch of songs with mostly dystopian themes,” Ament said in a press release announcing the record. If the dystopian themes of “Catastrophic Metamorphic” end up making their way into reality in the coming years, at least we know the soundtrack to the future won’t suck.
Deaf Charlie’s “Catastrophic Metamorphic” is out June. 30 and can be ordered here.
