Since David Wingo started in the sad alt-country/folk
singer/songwriter game as Ola Podrida, the genre's exploded, nowhere more so
than in the Texas native's current residence of Brooklyn.The soft, sweet tones of 2007's
self-titled release (QRO review) have,
by now, been heard on a million-and-one other new records.So how does Wingo continue to stand out
on his follow-up, Belly of the Lion?By following Ola Podrida's
most promising vein, building his strum into real emotional power.
If sometimes Ola Podrida
was too soft & sweet, there were also pieces like "Cindy", where that base
was built upon for stronger results.Wingo seems to have taken that as his starting off point on Belly, growing from a strum into heft on tracks like
"Donkey", "Lakes of Wine", and "Roomful of Sparrows", even reaching into real
rock in the final piece.However,
it's all best done on "Your Father's Basement", thanks to the young teen
storytelling which both rings true and yet isn't something you've heard told
much before.
The grace that pervades Belly of the Lion can still bring about maybe too much softness, even
when expanding.But as Ola
Podrida, David Wingo has squared the circle of how to do alt-country/folk today
and still be special.
Out of the favelas and discotheques come the psychic beats of Telepathique’s Last Time On Earth. 
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