Flashback to 2003: nineteen-year-old music student from England Patrick Wolf has just released his debut. Lycanthropy is a unique blend of traditional folk, pop, dark fantasy, drum computers and the instrumentation of a baroque orchestra. The album gets a lot of acclaim and Wolf gets the status of musical prodigy. The proverbial train has left the station: Wolf does cameos as violinist for the likes of Arcade Fire and CocoRosie, strings together tours and and releases albums like clockwork, culminating in the wonderful acoustic anthology record Sundark and Riverlight (2012).
But then the werewolf prodigy's fairy tale takes a dark turn: burnout, addiction problems and bankruptcy - including legal battles - cause a 10-year creative impasse.
Not until 2023 does he raises his head again with EP The Night Safari. Today, the 41-year-old Wolf is all back with a hopeful seventh studio album, “Crying The Neck” - inspired by mourning the recent loss of his mother. Guest appearances of Zola Jesus, Serafina Steer, drummer Seb Rochford and Wolf's sister Jo Apps included, the Wolf is howling at the moon again.
