Dark new wavey Oakland femme-noir pop band Wax Idols‘ released their new album Discipline & Desire last week through the well respected US imprint Slumberland Records (The Pains of Being Pure At Heart, Veronica Falls, Dum Dum Girls). Carving a stylish niche for themselves amongst the debris of hype surrounding bands like Savages, PINS et al. Wax Idols’ alluring jagged edged sound infused with singer the marvelously named Hether Fortune’s breathless attitude ripe delivery, it’s an electrifying concoction that scampers through the shadowy back-alleys clutching heart-break, calling to mind UK post punk legends like Siouxsie Sioux and Joy Division, but with spinning whirling dervish pop of highlights like ‘Sound Of A Void’ they manage not to descend into pastiche.
The sinewy Cure-esque licks and sexual tension of ‘When It Happens’ are fired by shotgun drum fills and melodramatic vocal choral harmonies that swoop like a thrilling ghost-ride. As well as sex and love the album also deals with loss and tragedy two tracks specifically referring to suicide (track ‘AD RE:IAN’ is about the suicides of Ian Curtis and Adrian Borland of The Sound), murder (‘The Cartoonist’ refers to a true story of a cartoonist who kills his wife who’s health is deteriorating due to MS, before killing himself), and the occult.
