Reignwolf Rocks Hard In The Dark

Ever since Canadian-born Jordan Cook played Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits, he has been on a rocket ride with Seattle-based Reignwolf. Even a single graph can only begin to sum up his great year.

Those two appearances landed him an opportunity to open for Black Sabbath during the April leg of their tour. The band just played two shows in Sydney and Melbourne, giving him and his soulful howls the first signs of a global reach. Rolling Stone premiered his newest single, In The Dark.

The song was tracked less than a month ago in Ani DiFranco's home studio. Her husband, Mike "Nappy" Napolitano, agreed to engineer it. And it doesn't disappoint, not even for a second.

In The Dark has some stomp, rock and soul. 

Inspired by a 13th century Romanian novel and being stuck in the basement of his home in the dead of winter when his Saskatchewan town lost power for nine days, the song opens with a distorted blues chug before Cook hums his start. Just don't let the simplicity of the few minutes fool you.



If Cook does anything well, he knows hows to deliver a smoldering, smoky build. He follows in the footsteps of great blues rockers, letting his guitars weep and throaty vocals glow. Even more remarkable, while he is accompanied on the low end by David "Stitch" Rapaport and drummer Joseph "Texas Joe" Braley, he is best known for his one-man opens, aided only by his vintage Ludwig bass drum.

If you have never seen him live, KEXP recently plugged Cook into its studio. His music making looks something like this on the yet-unreleased track Electric Love. It will blow you away.


The promise behind his powerhouse one-man music is straightforward. Cook puts his soul into the music until he is sure that he can't give anything more. Not only does this convey how the artist likes to play, but it also describes his lyrics.

As much as In The Dark talks about unconditional love, so too does his brilliant debut single Are You Satisfied? The track has gone a long way in helping Cook reign in his sound, which is considerably more bluesy than when the musician was first breaking onto the scene a few years ago.

As for the rest, Cook learned to play the guitar by growing up around music. He owned his first guitar when he only was 2 years old, mostly his dad didn't want him tripping over the Fender Stratocaster anymore. Not only did it work, but Cook never looked back.

Cook says it also helps coming from Canada. With extremely cold winters, he says Canadians have a natural affinity for writing, painting or playing music. It was during those cold winters that he fell in love with rock and blues.

In The Dark By Reignwolf Snaps 8.4 On The Liquid Hip Richter Scale. 

During an interview a couple of years ago, Cook said that he only had one plan. He wanted to keep pouring more into music and keep getting louder. Based on Are You Satisfied? and In The Dark, it seems like mission accomplished. The only better impression comes from those who have seen him sweat drenched and live, especially when he is the only person to take the stage as a solo artist.

You can find In The Dark and Are You Satisfied? on iTunes. You can also download In The Dark from Amazon. Assuming Cook can find some time in between his increasingly heavy tour schedule, there is some building anticipation for an album out next year. Stay up to date on Facebook.