I Am a Problem: Mind in Pieces

It’s certainly a series of striking and original composites, if a slightly meta one.

I Am A Problem still explores texture and discomfort like Wolf Eyes always has, but now have riffs. [No. 126, p.60]

This album marks a continued evolution in a subtly different new direction for this most idiosyncratic of American alternative bands, one of the few "allowed" to deliver this most unsettled of musics in a quasi-mainstream setting. After repeated listens, I've come to the conclusion that it and No Answer: Lower Floors represent a welcome refinement of something Wolf Eyes have been articulating since their humble beginnings way back in 2000.

The allure is, as ever, the trio's use of the stereo field, and their ability to pump some breathing room into these otherwise sticky and humid tunes. [Dec 2015, p.106]

Wolf Eyes are more than just another noise project, their world-view is intact, and I Am a Problem: Mind in Pieces is strong meat for those willing to take a healthy bite.

Wolf Eyes’ travels through the depths of noise and despair sound like they end up at a place where the gates read “Abandon All Hope,” but the group’s ability to put across its artistic vision with such totality should inspire at least a flicker of optimism.

Weird, wonderful and moderately imposing.

Another weighty addition to this first-choice list. [Dec 2015, p.91]

This isn’t quite your weird uncle’s Wolf Eyes, capable of clearing a den and ending the party in 30 seconds flat--but it’s a Wolf Eyes that’s still capable of scaring off half the guests. The other half will find a lot to love here.

You have to sit still a while and let the trio’s sonic images wash over you before their musical zombies rise from the dead to terrorize the stereo space. But give this album a fraction of the patience and attention that Wolf Eyes have put into it--effort on a par with their excellent previous effort, No Answer: Lower Floors--and you’ll be glad you stayed up late enough to see how it ends.

I Am a Problem isn’t the anomaly it might at first seem, but it is also its own beast. And a powerful, eccentric beast it is, snarling and stalking the shadows.

The desire of the group to progress feels palpable here. [Nov 2015, p.55]

As noise records go, it's a thing of relative restraint, and enjoyable in its own way. [Jan 2016, p.81]

I Am a Problem is a strong effort and a well-crafted representation of a Mind in Pieces. It may not be as forceful or jarring as a Burned Mind, Human Animal or No Answer, yet it demonstrates a Wolf Eyes branching off in interesting new directions, as well as perfecting the art of plying their noisome trade to serious ideas and issues.

What makes a Wolf Eyes album worthwhile is less the raging skree than their keen application of dark, delectably uncouth fragment. Your head can still wade in this bracken, even if it may not be as tumultuously roiling as it once was.