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

Wax Moon - Cool Blue Heat

12/30/2016

1 Comment

 
Picture
Wax Moon

Cool Blue Heat
self-released; 2016

4.0 out of 5 - TOP ALBUM

By Jamie Robash
​
Art, no matter if its endpoint is good or bad is born of emotion. Every doodle comes from somewhere inside; every finger pick, every word written down whether it is sung or read out loud or eventually crossed out in favor of something different, perhaps better, perhaps more direct. Even the things we discard while making art are still relevant stones, still breadcrumbs laid down to trace our path back to where the ideas originated. Even free-style or free verse is not made up on the spot, or pulled out of thin air. It comes from somewhere deep inside, the words just like sands suddenly pouring forth into the bottom of an overturned hourglass. 

The San Francisco acoustic duo Wax Moon, Paul Kimball and John Blatchford, know this to be true I feel because it permeates the themes of love and loss on their second EP Cool Blue Heat which succeeds their debut Ready or Not, which had tackled the very same themes. Sadly the loss here was that of Paul Kimball’s wife who passed away after an undisclosed illness.

Cool Blue Heat was recorded live in the studio with no overdubs and the opening title track is both personal and haunting. The lyrical imagery is unlike I’ve ever heard before. The words are heartbreakingly poetic as Kimball laments “And now I understand these cutting girls / the tiny slices that burn so sweet / doses of medicine soberly applied / to pull out the poison /cool blue heat.” As if that’s not heartbreaking enough take the last verse of “My Future Crime” which goes “Today my love opened her ledger to me / and whispered the words “together, forever”/ I felt the man she believed me to be peeling away, pedal to metal.”

​Here I thought of Shakespeare’s King Lear as far to the end as one can go. As there is literally no one left in King Lear it made for me “Always Here” that much more despondent, only so because it must, I can only imagine, have made Kimball feel as he wrote it. It is a road song, a running away song. Here he is lamenting on how no matter where he goes: be it Utah, Manhattan or Mecca, he cannot escape the loss of his wife. 

Cool Blue Heat is both a record of heartbreak and of hope. It is an example of the beauty that can be born from loss. On a musical level the live aspect really draws out the raw power of loss which Cool Blue Heat was born from. I would never dare to speak for the loss of someone’s loved one whom I had never known, but I can say that Cool Blue Heat is a beautiful record and a stunning tribute that deserves a wider audience.
Tweet
1 Comment
bob/mangus
1/2/2017 08:14:26 am

nice catch

Reply

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

    August 2022
    July 2022
    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