Von Wildenhaus, Painted Pills, The Phonebooks

Tacoma, Washington guitarist/vocalist Ben von Wildenhaus is a masterly mood mediator, a debonair director of nocturnal melodic splendor, a patient explorer of deep emotions in song. His third album, Everything In Flower, is his most accomplished—so much so, he's calling his crack band Von Wildenhaus in the tradition of legends such as Kip Winger, Glenn Danzig, and Don Dokken. Everything In Flower is also Von Wildenhaus' most song-based full-length, as he tailored his compositions to the supple voice of new singer Billie Bloom. Ben also tapped his longtime favorite musicians from Seattle and Bellingham (where his slashing rock group Federation X originated), including drummer Andru Creature (Reeks And Wrecks, Sugar Sugar Sugar, Lone Bird), saxophonist Jon Sampson (Bar Tabac), and bassist Aaron Harmonson (Ken Stringfellow, Evening Bell). These deft players know the power of understatement. Von Wildenhaus' first album since 2015's II, Everything In Flower begins with the delicately beautiful “Working On My Novel,” which wafts into earshot with a vaguely Eastern melismatic lilt. Bloom sings, “I'm working on my novel/Feels like I'm almost done/I'm working on my novel/Like I've just begun,” forging a piquant metaphor for the restless creator enmeshed in an endlessly regenerative process. The sentiment applies in spades to Von Wildenhaus, who's attained a new peak with Everything In Flower. Its strange perfume becomes your blood. -Dave Segal