This Liverpudlian trio started to take shape back in 2002 when vocalist Marc Sunderland and drummer Donna Dosanjh met at university, and immediately began sketching tracks together, turning up at the open-mic nights across the city to perform them. Marc completed Team Wolf in 2004 with the addition of double-bassist Hugo Harrison.
It was Peter and the Wolf’s deliciously askew lyricism coupled with the shuffling acoustics that raised the collective eyebrows of Skinny Dog supremos Guy Garvey (Elbow) and Peter Jobson (I Am Kloot), forcing them to sign the band to their burgeoning label.
Performing live, the band’s set-up is taken straight from the unconventional. Drummer Donna remains standing, a veritable beacon surrounded by her percussion; a melee of cowbells and tambourines, with only the very basics of a drum-kit to beat.
There are strong resemblances in Peter and the Wolf’s sound that recall the zany melodic joy of city peers The Zutons, meandering with the gentle offbeat simplicity of Badly Drawn Boy’s early EPs. Each and every track on Storyteller are intricately crafted and entrancing sketches. Recorded in Marc’s makeshift bedroom studio, the mini-album captures and condenses tender thoughts with playful rhythms. With an ear for the wonderful, Peter and the Wolf offer six tracks of rueful, catchy and timeless laments which are suitably out of step, and yet so delightfully familiar.
Peter and the Wolf are: Marc Sunderland (vocals/guitar), Donna Dosanjh (drums), Hugo Harrison (double bass)
