Exit Wounds (The Wallflowers album)
Exit Wounds is the seventh studio album by the Wallflowers, their first in nine years since the release of "Glad All Over" (2012). The album debuted No. 183 on the US "Billboard" 200. On "Billboard’s" Top Album Sales chart it debuted at No. 3, making it the band’s highest-charting album yet. It was released by New West Records on July 9, 2021. Singer-songwriter Shelby Lynne's backing vocals are featured on four tracks. "Roots and Wings" was released as the first single on April 9, 2021. Background. Although the album was  written and finished before the COVID-19 pandemic, Jakob Dylan said he said he didn't want to put it out during a time of such uncertainty and suffering. In speaking to Uproxx about the origins of the album he said "these songs are written before Covid, but we still had the dumpster fire of everything else that was happening before that." Dylan noted that while he does not consider it to be a political album, current events in the United States certainly had an impact on his writing. As he emphasized to Consequence of Sound, perseverance in spite of turbulent  times is a major theme on the album. This theme is especially notable on the track "I'll Let You Down (But I Will Not Give You Up)", which uses a "wayward bus" as a metaphor for social upheaval in the United States, but features a hopeful chorus with Shelby Lynne singing harmony. Reception. "Exit Wounds" received a score of 72 out of 100 from Metacritic, indicating "generally favorable reviews." "Mojo" gave it four out of five stars and called it Dylan's "best original work by some yards." In a mostly positive review, "American Songwriter" wrote that "the sound  is leaner, a little less rough around the edges and solidly in sync as well." "Rolling Stone"s review was mixed, giving the album three out of five stars, and writing that Dylan "can evoke an Americana-tinged Warren Zevon, gruff but tender, with the best songs featuring Shelby Lynne's empathetic vocals." Musical style. Pitchfork assessed the album as a return to classic rock with no adjustments made to accommodate "contemporary fashion". The first song, "Maybe Your Heart's Not in It No More", gave an impression of "soulful Americana". "Classic Rock" magazine agreed, calling the song roots rock. "Classic  Rock" praised the album for its variety of song genres including the pop rock of "Roots and Wings" and the "raucous rave-up" of "Who's That Man Walkin' Round My Garden". The four songs with vocals by Shelby Lynne were described as adding a country music influence, and the album's overall genre was a combination of Americana and rock-inflected power pop. "PopMatters" wrote that the album was not a blues album, but it carried the influence of blues throughout, in the manner of rock music by the Rolling Stones. "Glide" magazine classified the album as "guitar-forward  solid pop" and rock. Charts. Singles