MAN’S GIN – Smiling Dogs

COBALT multi-instrumentalist Erik Wunder returns, this time with a new venture that goes under the moniker of MAN’S GIN, the singer-songwriter project he initially spawned in 2005 when he was living back in Denver, Colorado.

Since re-locating to Brooklyn, NY last year Wunder decided to take MAN’S GIN to the next level while riding on the critical acclaim that was befalling COBALT’s “Gin” album. What initially started as a project where it was pretty much Wunder and a friend in Colorado wielding their acoustic guitars, along with endless bottles of whisky and Wunder putting his soulful voice to good use, Wunder would create what is now known as “The Rum Demos”, which were the initial MAN’S GIN recordings that were merely passed amongst solely to close friends in Wunder’s circle (with the odd backyard gig ensuing).

Once Wunder moved to Brooklyn, he then decided to round up two accomplished local musicians, namely Josh Lozano (also of Inswarm and part of Jarboe’s live band) on upright bass and guitarist/pianist Scott Edward to make MAN’S GIN a proper and a real band. Wunder would of course round off the band on vocals, guitars, and drums respectively and begin to slave away at new music until the band would inevitably enter Colin Marston’s (KRALLICE, Gorguts etc.) Thousand Caves Studio in the bellowing month of January 2010 where during three weeks of labor and uncertainty, MAN’S GIN’s debut album “Smiling Dogs” would eventually manifest.

In what can be best described as an album which takes an intimate singer-songwriter approach to its odes which serve as a suitable soundtrack to the desolate and ghostly underbelly of America, “Smiling Dogs” can be referenced through several genres like Americana folk and Southern Rock, and is reminiscent of the vibe that such acts as Woven Hand, 16 Horsepower, Dax Riggs, Nick Cave, and “Nebraska” era Bruce Springsteen portray through their art likewise.

Nonetheless, tracklisting to “Smiling Dogs” goes as follows:

1. Smiling Dogs
2. Free
3. Stone On My Head
4. Solid Gold Telephone
5. Nuclear Ambition Part 1
6. Nuclear Ambition Part 2
7. The Death Of Jimmy Sturgis
8. Hate.Money.Love.Woman
9. Doggamn