Album Review

Wax Idols – Discipline & Desire

• 6th Mar 2013

Diiscipline & Desire is the second album from Oakland post punks Wax Idols. If you like music that is dark and discordant with an edgy, bass heavy groove then this is the band for you. Comparisons are often made between Wax Idols and Siouxsie and the Banshees, and it is easy to see why, although the Americans have a far edgier sound that is reverb heavy and dark, yet also has solid melodies and some fine insightful lyrics. And there is more variety to the album than might perhaps be expected.

Wax idols’ first album No Future was more a solo album from Hether Fortune. This one is definitely a group effort, with Jen Mundy (guitar and vocals), Amy Rosenoff (bass) and Keven Tecon (drums) now permanent band members. And there is more of a coherent feel to this ten song album, which bristles with energy and crackles incessantly with an electric pulse. It demands attention and captivates; this is no background music.

The opening Stare Back is strong and powerful as it builds slowly, a wonderful bass line running through it behind Fortune’s strong clipped vocals. Sound Of A Void, which we featured as a free download, follows on in equally dark fashion, almost a wall of sound from which a guitar hook escapes. When It Happens has a world weary feel, Fortune’s vocals less intense somehow, and the guitar sound is higher.

Formulae, the shortest track on the album at just over two minutes, is fast paced and simply rushes by. The Scent Of Love slows things down with another powerful bass line. There is a restrained feel to this one, a sultry undercurrent that tells of pleasure yet there is an unresolved tension too.

Dethrone has a far poppier feel, its fast drum beat and shimmering guitar heading close to radio friendly territory. But this is temporary respite before the two darkest songs on the album. The superb AD RE: IAN was inspired by the suicides of Joy Division’s Ian Curtis and The Sound’s Adrian Borland, and The Cartoonist tells of a man who killed his wife and then himself.

Elegua has a long intro, guitars over heavily distorted vocals before the backing drops and Fortune bursts through. It doesn’t work as well as most of the album. But the closing Stay In is a fine track, fast paced and passionate. And just when you think the album is over there is a hidden track that tells a darkly humorous tale of a first date in a graveyard. At least I think they are going for humour …

Overall, this is an album full of atmospheric effects backing vivid lyrics. Strong bass and drums, together with some great guitar work, supports Hether Fortune’s lovely dramatic vocals very well, and there is a chilling nature to the music that thrills. It’s certainly nothing like you might expect from a Californian band – but then when you find out that Hether Fortune’s day job is as a dominatrix the nature of the music, and indeed the album’s title, make a lot more sense.

Venue: Discipline & Desire
Support Band: Slumberland Records