In the liner notes of Hard Knox, a compilation of 14 demos, outtakes and home recordings, James Jackson Toth (a.k.a. Wooden Wand, now just Wand) admits that such collections are “mostly bogus, but… I’ve somehow been coerced into releasing this batch of tunes.” Regardless of how Thurston Moore’s Ecstatic Peace! got their mitts on these lo-fi lullabies, it’s a great thing, as they’re just as lovely as anything Toth has conjured in the past.
On almost every song, Toth is backed by the cooing vocals of Jexie Lynn, and she even gains a Moe Tucker-esque solo spotlight with “All the Generous Men.” The demo nature of these recordings doesn’t offer much sonic variety outside of the electric psych-guitar of “Eyes” and the Casio piano of closer “Soldier Moves (For Larry McMurtry),” but it’s all about the lyrics anyway. Who else pens couplets like, “Oh toll collector, meter maid, oh batting eyelash Astrocade?”
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