“Do you actually like this music?” inquired a friend rhetorically, when they walked into the lounge room to hear Wax Witches’ latest album, Centre of Your Universe, playing at reasonable but not oppressive volume. Certainly, there’s no sense that Bleeding Knees’ Alex Wall is using his solo project to win friends and influence people.
And, to some extent, that’s part of the attraction of Wax Witches’ latest album, Centre of Your Universe. It’s a decidedly scrappy record, and endearing because of that very fact: the eponymous titled Theme Song to the album locates the succeeding tracks in the context of adolescent confusion. Move forward, and Poser is Blondie at the apex of their New York punk appeal, and cusp of commercial appeal; Social Introvert is dripping with sneering garage punk attitude. Twenty Seven starts with a veneer of sci-fi electronics and morphs into a love song as dirty as the average rock star’s personal hygiene. You’re Not My Idol is an echo-laden post new wave diatribe against fame; 2yung2die is possibly the wittiest pun on the psychoanalytical dysfunction of rock’n’roll existence.
By the time Serotonin appears, the mood has – not surprisingly – ebbed somewhat, and we’re out into the ether, watching, wondering and waiting for a better day. Summer Suckers is Beach Boys without the buffed and polished trimmings, and Headshave explores the philosophical condition of rejection by not giving a shit. Codeine Crush ponders the nature of addiction on multiple levels; Ultra-Outcast drops the Jungian facade and heads straight to Camus and finds comforting solace in difference. And that’s probably just where Alex Wall wants to be.
BY PATRICK EMERY
Best Track: Social Introvert
If You Like These, You’ll Love This:JAY REATARD, THE GORIES
In A Word: Scrappy
