The Wiyos "Twist"

Independent, 2011

Musical collage based on the Wizard of Oz

• On the face of it, making an album based on The Wizard Of Oz is about as extreme a left turn as you can make if you’re an Americana band. The Wiyos though are not just any Americana band and for them it makes perfect sense.

• Since starting out in 2002 they’ve consistently made music that defies categorisation and has tended to get chucked into “Americana” for want of anything better. Their sound has definitely got an old-timey base, but they’ve also brought in jazz, ragtime, bits of bluegrass, bits of pretty much everything. Their previous albums have consequently been great fun but a bit unfocussed. Here though is where it all really comes together, making it their best by some margin.

  In lesser hands it would be an unholy mess, but with the Wiyos it’s just right. By turns it’s funny, disturbing, rousing and bouncy and all the time it’s irresistible. Feet tap, heads nod, choruses are sung. Importantly, the band don’t just produce an updated soundtrack but add lots of their own ideas while never losing sight of the story. Occasionally it even sounds a bit Lennon/McCartney, circa the Summer of Love. Constantly surprising, always interesting, this album does indeed give the Oz story a whole new, ahem, twist.