Based around the scene-setting narratives of band founder and primary songwriter Gabriel Birnbaum, Brooklyn-based indie outfit Wilder Maker match the complexity of their lyrical world-building with equally intricate arrangements. After finding their footing with a series of self-released EPs and establishing their storytelling style on 2018 album Zion, Wilder Maker invited numerous guest vocalists and contributors to help tell their tales on 2022's Male Models. The album's songs played out like a series of vignettes and included performances from Mutual Benefit, Counting Crows singer Adam Duritz, and many others.

Wilder Maker formed in Brooklyn in the early 2010s, with Birnbaum and select friends working on home recordings. These tapes eventually led to various incarnations of the band playing live and self-releasing projects like 2013's Year of Endless Light and 2015's trifecta of EPs Everyday Crimes Against Objects of Desire, Vols. 1-3. By that point, Katie Von Schleicher was a full-time contributor to the band, singing lead on many tracks as well as playing guitar and keyboards. In 2017 they released their New Streets 7" on Saddle Creek, their most widely distributed material up to that point. The next year, their full-length Zion was released on the Northern Spy label, featuring Birnbaum and Von Schleicher as well as guitarist Adam Brisbin, bassist Nick Jost, and drummer Sean Mullins. Wilder Maker continued to evolve stylistically on Zion, branching out into more expansive arrangements and performances and blending Americana and rough-edged indie rock styles. This tendency toward expansion would be amplified on sophomore album Male Models, which arrived in July of 2022. Along with several tunes featuring orchestral touches, Male Models saw the core trio of Birnbaum, Jost, and Mullins collaborating with a host of guest vocalists and musicians such as Counting Crows' Adam Duritz, Dirty Projectors' Felicia Douglass, V.V. Lightbody, Mutual Benefit, and several others. ~ Fred Thomas, Rovi