Weird War

Ian Svenonius has been many things to many people. But mostly, the enigmatic frontman of Weird War has served as a source of emulation. While every outfit he's been involved with over the past fifteen years, from Nation of Ulysses to Cupid Car Club to the Make-Up, has met with...

By Jason Heller

July 21, 2005

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Ian Svenonius has been many things to many people. But mostly, the enigmatic frontman of Weird War has served as a source of emulation. While every outfit he's been involved with over the past fifteen years, from Nation of Ulysses to Cupid Car Club to the Make-Up, has met with modest success, those who rip him off wind up way more popular. But with Weird War, he's quantum-leapt over the screamo and garage-revival styles he helped forge. Assisted by guitarist Alex Minoff, Trans Am drummer Sebastian Thomson and longtime bass cohort Michelle Mae, Svenonius has hit upon the apotheosis of his post-modern punk and rhetoric-riddled aesthetic. Weird War's new disc, Illuminated by the Light, bristles with disjointed riffs that seem to quote the entirety of its leader's past -- indeed, the whole history of rock itself: kraut rock, post-rock, funk, even pop. Less stylistically straitjacketed than its predecessors, this is a band you could imagine Svenonius's surreal, hyper-literate howl inhabiting for a long time. After all, Weird War would be a hard act to follow -- and, thankfully, an even harder one to copy.

Jason Heller is a staff writer at Westword. He's the author of the book Strange Stars: David Bowie, Pop Music, and the Decade Sci-Fi Exploded (Melville House/Penguin Random House), and has contributed to the New Yorker, The Atlantic, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork and NPR.org. His work has won a Hugo Award and a Colorado Press Association Award.

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