Wicked Immigrant

Wicked Immigrant are not here to steal your children and set your van on fire. Nor are they here to round up your uncle's migrant workers and ship them off to some godforsaken border town. They're just two guys from Dayton, Ohio that spend their free time creating home-recorded music with hints of orchestral weight, flaking rust and creeping nuclear radiation. And they've never practiced or played together in the same room.

ormed in 2003, singer/guitarist John Wenzel and bassist Chris Jones enlisted friends and significant others to create Wicked Immigrant's first full-length, the fidelity-impaired 'Reunion of Cynics.' The release hopped from melodic folk to silt-ridden indie rock to lo-fi pop, all without seeming to notice its own schizophrenia.Crisp acoustic guitars, swooping basslines, and wavering cellos arranged themselves in a decidedly mid-fi manner, complementing lyrics that spoke alternately of hope, despair and the blurry dismissal of both emotions.The latest Immigrant release, 'White Nuns on Red Wine,' is now available. A more direct, focused approach defines the songs, which throw their weight behind such subjects as drunken girlfriend obsession, pioneer envy and blood allergy research.