Wilder Maker plays host at a musicians’ salon on their new full-length LP Male Models. Like a good host, the Brooklyn-based three-piece makes sure everyone has a drink in hand and no one’s stuck in the corner with the weird guy. The tracklist expends so much effort making the guests feel at home, you wonder at times if the hosts actually live there. But the party itself rocks, and the album has high moments to make your summer simmer. 

The roster of guest spots include: V.V. Lightbody, Adam Duritz, Mutual Benefit, Felicia Douglass, Yellow Ostrich, and Katie Von Schleicher. Von Schleicher, prior member of Wilder Maker, gets back into the swing of things on the single “Against Numbers” and makes her presence felt throughout the album. The recordings off her recent solo album Consummation have a kitchen sink-orchestral quality – it’s good to hear her tilt in the other direction with the more straight ahead songwriting and recording ethos of Male Models.

“Scam Likely,” “Silver Car” and “5 Train” trend toward indie Americana. Wilder Maker has a multitude of musical irons in the fire and the Americana ambience can serve as a welcome waystation, a late night roadside diner where all the motives of jazz, pop and rock can enjoy a coffee together. “Scam Likely” is an uptempo roadhouse riffer. Von Schleicher delights on “Silver Car,” handling the vocal duties to deliver an ethereal folk number. Her voice has a feathery Joni Mitchell quality and the slow tempo suits the emotional warp and the weft of her storytelling.

In contrast to the poppier tracks “A Professional” (ft. Felicia Douglass) and “Static” (ft. V.V. Lightbody), “Surfers Race” and “New Anxiety” sail into wyrder folk waters. On the former Yellow Ostrich sings above some surprising chord progressions, channeling Garfunkel sans Simon. The electricity is dialed down and acoustic strings come to the fore. On the latter Mutual Benefit contributes to the song most likely to kill it at the Newport Folk Festival.

The guest vocals from Adam Duritz star on “O Anna.” With such an iconic voice, there’s always the danger that the personality of the original song will be overwhelmed by the starpower. Wilder Maker plays it cool, constructing an understated rock n roller that lets Duritz soar without flying too close to the sun. 

Quick hits: “All Power Must Remain Hidden” needs more cowbell and “5 Train” rocks some fun falsetto notes.

Male Models is an invitation to a party full of friends-of-friends that you always suspected would get along swimmingly. The diversity of voices showcases a creative elasticity from Wilder Maker that should be the envy of their peers. What the album loses in unified concept it gains in community. Maybe this is how all post-LP LP’s will be constructed in a streaming world. Hip hop has already made the transition. But more likely this is a stop along the way for Wilder Maker, which has demonstrated an affection for The Album Concept with previous full-lengths like Zion and Year of Endless Light. Male Models is an album of the moment that speaks in pandemic parlance, wherein finding a foothold in common with others after weeks and months and years of isolation is paramount. Text your vaccinated friends, put Male Models on the playlist, and party til the sun comes up.