New Music: Ace of Wands – Uncanny

Toronto’s Ace of Wands unravel some personal thoughts on success and the music industry via an Argento-like theme on Uncanny.

The Argento comparison continues within the arrangement as the trio find a space between the film scores of Italian outfit Goblin, but also expansive cinematic rock settings similar in mood to PJ Harvey and Chelsea Wolfe.

With Uncanny, Ace of Wands layer on an atmosphere of confusion in the driving arrangement and the tautness of the strings – the latter triggering thoughts of Hitchcock’s Psycho and The Crows. Like many of the works of Argento and Hitchcock, Uncanny looks at the nature of identity and the meaning of the self. Not the usual fare of a rock song, but one the band tackles wonderfully – and successfully.

Says the band’s songwriter Lee Rose about the track, “I’m a huge horror fan, and I’ve always been interested in the idea of the ‘gothic double’: a duality of the self that surfaces as a kind of haunting.

“As I spend more and more time online trying to promote the band, I think about this duality and the persona I adopt for my ‘public face.’ I began to see it as an unsettling, eerie version of myself. A self that seeks validation through perfectionism and public recognition. Uncanny felt like an exorcism of this doppelgänger, and a resurfacing of my authentic self.”

Uncanny is out now and can be downloaded from Bandcamp and streamed on all major digital outlets, including Spotify. You can connect with Ace of Wands by following them on Instagram or Facebook.