Petr & the Wulf

Petr & The Wulf is the debut studio album by Munly & The Lupercalians, a side project founded by musician Jay Munly around 2007. It is a loose adaptation of Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev.

For the music composition, see Peter and the Wolf. For other renditions with similar titles, see Peter and the Wolf (disambiguation).

Petr & The Wulf
Cover art for Petr & The Wulf
Studio album by
Munly & The Lupercalians
ReleasedAug. 2010 (CD); Oct. 2010 (LP)
StudioAbsinthe Studios
Genreconcept album · art rock · alt country · gothic country · freak folk
Length47:45 (CD); 46:45 (LP)
LanguageEnglish
LabelAlternative Tentacles
ProducerBob Ferbrache
Munly & The Lupercalians chronology
Petr & The Wulf
(2010)		 Kinnery of Lupercalia: Undelivered Legion
(TBA)

It was released on compact disc on August 31, 2010[1][lower-alpha 1] and on vinyl on October 5, 2010[2] through the record label Alternative Tentacles.[3][4]

Overview

Adaptation

The album is a mythicized retelling of the original 1936 composition, told from different characters' perspectives: the boy ("Petr"), his grandfather ("Grandfater"), the hunters ("Three Wise Hunters"), and the animals: "Cat", "Bird", "Duk", and "Wulf".[4] "Scarewulf" serves as a synopsis, or introduction, to the album's story. It is believed that Munly chose the Russian spelling of the track titles in homage to Prokofiev's original story.

As told to Sad Wave, a Russian publication, Munly has been fascinated with the story ever since he was a child:

“This story - both music and the plot - sunk into my soul as a child, after the [Disney] cartoon that we were shown in elementary school. I think she greatly influenced me. And I wanted to make my version of this story - the true version."[5]

Similarly, the press release informs the listener that "'Petr & The Wulf' is the correct telling of a story about which most have been woefully misinformed."[4]

The Kinnery of Lupercalia

Ultimately, it is a prequel to the stories of his invented world, Lupercalia, told over a span of four albums.[6] The goal is to produce a multi-album epic titled 'The Kinnery of Lupercalia', which is all about the town and its colorful residents. Its residents have been described as "families who interact with each other"[7] and Lupercalia as an "imagined community of Legions & clans where we are not sure who is a deity and who is not."[8] A "Pre-History of Lupercalia"[9] was originally posted on the band's MySpace page as a blog post, but the page itself has been deleted.

Recording and production

Although a demo album was released in 2009,[10] this is considered to be the first release by the band. It is the sixth studio album by musician Jay Munly overall.

It was recorded, mixed, and produced by Bob Ferbrache (a member of Slim Cessna's Auto Club at the time) at Absinthe Studios in Denver, Colorado.[4]

Packaging and release

CD & LP editions

The Alternative Tentacles category number is VIRUS 421.[3][4]

The vinyl album was originally pressed by Rainbo Records. The matrix/runout numbers are S-73499 VIRUS-421-A and S-73500 VIRUS-421-B.[11] The vinyl edition of the album included special artwork and a "Pre-History of Lupercalia."[12]

The album was re-released through the band's own independent record label, SCAC Unincorporated, around 2015.[13][lower-alpha 2]

Lyric booklet

In October 2019, band members Jay Munly and Rebecca Vera collaborated with Devil's Jump Press to produce limited-edition lyric booklets for the album. The lyrics were handwritten by Munly with artwork crafted by Vera. A "Pre-History of Lupercalia" was also included.[14] Only 32 copies were printed and distributed in total.[8]

Other appearances

The song "Grandfater" was featured on the Smooch Records compilation album Radio 1190: Local Shakedown, Vol. 3 (2009) and on Rodentagogue: The Best of Dark Roots Music Volume II, released by Devil's Ruin Music in 2010.[15]

Critical reception

Reviews of the album are mixed.

Taipei Times' Taylor Briere praised the lyrics and instrumentation, giving the album a "deranged, circus-like feel and many wonderful musical moments".[16]

Embo Blake of Hybrid Magazine called the music "weirdly irreverent" and compared the tone to that of the "dark and twisted" 2006 animated Peter & the Wolf film.[17]

Maarten Schiethart of Penny Black Music, based in the UK, describes Munly as a "keen innovator" and the album full of "great ideas," although the backing band overshadowed the vocals.[18]

The A.V. Club gave the album a B- rating. Matt Schild wrote that the album works on "an intellectual level" but found it "too easy to get tangled up in the narrative" and called the arrangements "overwhelmingly dismal".[19]

Michael Cimaomo of the Valley Advocate echoed The A.V. Club, stating that the album overall is a "curious yet entrancing experience" but the lyrics are "overly verbose."[20]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Jay Munly.

Standard edition (CD)[13]
No.TitleLength
1."Scarewulf"5:02
2."Petr"4:37
3."Grandfater"5:37
4."Bird"5:05
5."Cat"6:33
6."Duk"4:18
7."Three Wise Hunters"8:18
8."Wulf"8:11
Total length:47:45
Vinyl edition (LP) - Side A: Sailors[11]
No.TitleLength
1."Scarewulf"5:02
2."Petr"4:38
3."Grandfater"5:38
4."Three Wise Hunters"8:18
Total length:22:36
Vinyl edition (LP) - Side B: Animals[11]
No.TitleLength
1."Bird"5:05
2."Cat"6:34
3."Duk"4:19
4."Wulf"8:11
Total length:24:09

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the album liner notes.[21]

Band members
  • Munly J. Munly - vocals, banjo, lyrics
  • Daniel "Danny Pants" Grandbois - keyboards
  • Chad "Chadzilla" Johnson - drums, percussion
  • Todd "The Peeler" Moore - drums, percussion
  • Rebecca Vera - cello, keyboards

Production
  • Robert Ferbrache - engineer

Notes
  1. Bandcamp mislabeled Petr & The Wulf as a self-titled album. Munly & The Lupercalians have never released a self-titled album.
  2. MyShopify mislabeled Petr & The Wulf as a self-titled album. Munly & The Lupercalians have never released a self-titled album.
gollark: Which... I guess you could make it autogenerate data if it doesn't find any!
gollark: "Known error" kind of also includes stuff like "record not found".
gollark: > actually localising your code
gollark: My web ones, thæt is.
gollark: In web ones, it's logged and also has a partial description sent as the response.

References
  1. "Munly & The Lupercalians (2010)". Bandcamp. Retrieved May 9, 2020.
  2. "Petr & The Wulf (LP)". Amoeba Music. Retrieved May 9, 2020.
  3. "About / Discography". Alternative Tentacles. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
  4. "Munly & The Lupercalians - Petr & The Wulf". Alternative Tentacles. Archived from the original on June 22, 2011. Retrieved May 9, 2020.
  5. Kurkin, Dmitry (February 8, 2019). "Jay Manley (DBUK): 'I try to write on behalf of all sad people'". sad wave (in Russian). Retrieved May 12, 2020.
  6. Forman, Bill (December 23, 2010). "Wulf at the door". Colorado Springs Indy (Interview). Colorado Springs Independent. Retrieved March 26, 2020.
  7. Solomon, Jon (December 27, 2012). "Munly talks Slim Cessna's Auto Club's new album and seeing Billy Bragg for the first time". Westword. Retrieved May 10, 2020.
  8. "Petr & The Wulf". Devil's Jump Press. Retrieved May 10, 2020.
  9. "~ A Pre-History of Lupercalia ~ Jan 19, 2009". south-gothic.tumblr.com. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
  10. "Munly & The Lupercalians – Munly & The Lupercalians". Rate Your Music. Retrieved April 13, 2020.
  11. Petr & The Wulf (LP). Munly & The Lupercalians. Alternative Tentacles. 2010. 0721616042115.CS1 maint: others (link)
  12. "vinyl art 'Petr & The Wulf'". Munly & The Lupercalians Facebook Page. March 10, 2012. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
  13. "Munly & The Lupercalians (2010)". MyShopify. Retrieved May 9, 2020.
  14. "We have a brand-new project to announce. [...]". Munly & The Lupercalians Facebook Page. October 14, 2019. Retrieved May 10, 2020.
  15. "Rodentagogue: The Best of Dark Roots Music Volume II". Devil's Ruin Records. Archived from the original on February 10, 2010. Retrieved May 19, 2020.
  16. Briere, Taylor (January 16, 2011). "CD REVIEWS". Taipei Times. Retrieved May 13, 2020.
  17. Blake, Embo. "Munly & The Lupercalians: Petr & The Wulf". Hybrid Magazine. [noun] digital media. Retrieved May 9, 2020.
  18. Schiethart, Maarten (November 14, 2010). "Petr and the Wulf by Munly and the Lupercalians". Penny Black Music. Archived from the original on April 23, 2020. Retrieved May 13, 2020.
  19. Schild, Matt (December 3, 2010). "Petr And The Wulf". A.V. Club. Onion, Inc. Archived from the original on December 8, 2010. Retrieved May 9, 2020.
  20. "CD Shorts". Valley Advocate. January 22, 2010. Retrieved May 13, 2020.
  21. Petr & The Wulf (CD). Munly & The Lupercalians. Alternative Tentacles. 2010. 0721616042122.CS1 maint: others (link)
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