Gary McClure’s dexterous, lo-fi project American Wrestlers began as an idle way to pass the time. McClure is a music industry veteran who’s been making music for 20+ years.

Now based in Missouri, the Scotsman’s journey is something of wonderment. Born and raised in Glasgow, he then found his way to Manchester. After his previous band (Manchester outfit Working For A Nuclear Free City) broke up, McClure tried his hand at a solo project under his own name, 2013’s ‘Wreaths’. He then recorded some demos under a different name and posted the songs online and it was as a result of his songs that his now-wife first got in touch. After becoming enraptured with one another, he moved across the Atlantic to get married. The move to Missouri saw American Wrestlers take form, recording in a tiny, remote house, on a Tascam 8-track and the cheapest pawnshop instruments he could afford.

The music of American Wrestlers is familiar. It recalls first love, twilight as the day turns to night, and the feeling of discovery that was, at one point, so precious to us; that moment when we are first shocked and beguiled by a melody that strikes us so acutely that our stomachs jump for joy into our chests.

“Who knows what we’ll eventually find out about American Wrestlers… for the time being, the blinders are on and the glowing hooks of ‘I Can Do No Wrong’ effusively speak for whoever’s behind the curtain.” – Pitchfork

“The song is masterful and difficult to define: translucent lo-fi new wave laced with rustic strums and jazzy flourishes, sung with a gentle falsetto akin to Ho