Insight & Critique
  • DAC
  • Indie Music Album Reviews
  • About
  • Submissions
  • Top albums
  • Features
  • Contact

Earwax - ​It Was No One

12/5/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
Earwax

​It Was No One
self-released; 2015

4.2 out of 5 - TOP ALBUM

By J Simpson

It Was No One, by Brooklyn brothers Andrew and Michael Coffman, could easily be one of the shortest album reviews I've written all year. Although I don't like to tell people what to do or think, I can, with no hesitation, tell you that if you like the blasted druggie outlaw country of Johnny Cash; the Old Testament prophesies of Leonard Cohen; haunted desert drifters like The Handsome Family; or explosive folk fury a la Bright Eyes/Conor Oberst, you simply have to hear this stunning debut.

That is all.

That, however, would be a hasty mistake, and would overlook many of the nuances that make It Was No One such a goddam sensational record.

Earwax, as previously hinted at, plays predominantly a doomy, heavy, apocalyptic folk blues rock. Most songs are built around a pallet of interweaving acoustic guitars, and a small folk orchestra of banjos, mandolins, violins, trumpets and electric pianos. Songs begin as traditional folksy song forms, only to slowly spin and spiral and drift away from center in jaw-dropping snowstorms and kaleidoscopes of orchestral grandeur, meeting a WW I battalion of a rhythm section, while layers and layers of acoustic guitar meet and dance and twine around one another like a grape trellis all the while. To put it simply, if you're familiar with the band at all, Earwax might start with a haunting Johnny Cash or The Handsome Family folk song, but quickly crescendos into instrumental orchestral crescendos of post-rock bands like Rachel's, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, or A Silver Mt. Zion.

Like many of those bands, Earwax ia adept at creating ornate acoustic sculptures from wire and wood and string. Every sound is utterly authentic, ringed in room-sound, unable to have come from any other where or when. It's folk art taken to ridiculously high aspirations, like building Notre Dame out of thatch or pop sticks.

But even then, comparing Earwax to the "this + this" school of music journalism would still overlook what is so striking about Earwax. While it's clear they have a love for a number of modern experimental folk outfits, they don't strike me like a couple of dudes who heard a Bright Eyes record and decided to buy a guitar. The Coffman brothers' vocals speak of too much experience - rough and ragged, torn and bleeding.
​
Similarly, they are instrumental prodigies on a number of stringed instruments. Every note is perfectly poised and placed, forming beautiful glistening crystal sculptures in your imagination. Of all the bands I have heard trickling out of the underground (too many to even think of), I can easily and honestly say that Earwax has the highest potential of exploding and becoming the hugest acoustic rock band on the planet, if people were to hear them.
And I don't like hype, remember.

It Was No One is just that kind of record that seems to raise your ire. It'll have you punching the air in the dead of night, rubbing your chin, going for walks at 3 a.m. It's the kind of record that makes you want to contact high school friends you haven't talked to in years, just to help shift another copy or two (and of course, just to frantically gush).
​
There are almost too many great songs to count. Some will find it overlong at a mighty 14 tracks, but I find the album to work like a movie's traditional three-part structure - beginning, climax, wind-down. You can always take an intermission, make some popcorn and use the bathroom. By way of introduction, if you'd like to hear some of the doomy blasted folk/country, try album opener "Arise The Worm." Check "No Regrets" if you want to hear the band in full tilt orchestral meltdown. And spare a moment for the Postal Service pop of "Lost My Way" just to remind you that you truly don't know what you'll get with the Coffman brothers. Truly anything could happen.
Tweet
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

       Critique/insight

    We are dedicated to informing the public about the different types of independent  music that is available for your listening pleasure as well as giving the artist a professional critique from a seasoned music geek. We critique a wide variety of niche genres like experimental, IDM, electronic, ambient, shoegaze and much more.

    Tweets by divideanconqer
    Are you one of our faithful visitors who enjoys our website? Like us on Facebook


    Archives

    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012

Company

About
Contributors

Newsletter

Newsletter
Book Your Band
© Divide and Conquer 2022. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • DAC
  • Indie Music Album Reviews
  • About
  • Submissions
  • Top albums
  • Features
  • Contact