Winnipeg’s own weirdos have created a rock opera based on the children’s book Where the Wild Things Are. To listen to The Wild Things is a one-of-a-kind experience. Flying Fox take us on an amazing journey to the wild and back, in only eight tracks. Drawing from opera, indie and jazz (see three-part instrumental The Wild Rumpus) it’s all about meandering piano, blaring horns and shouted choruses, with vocalist Jesse Krause clearly channeling Freddy Mercury on acid. This album is so far out to lunch that it’s brilliant. Highlight: Monster Island, a clinking, clanking stomper about eating children, which references Martha Stewart, Dr. Seuss and The Joy of Cooking.

Published in Volume 65, Number 2 of The Uniter (September 9, 2010)