WAX CHATTELS SHARE
NEW TRACK ‘CAREER’
SELF-TITLED DEBUT ALBUM SET FOR RELEASE MAY 18 VIA FLYING NUN RECORDS
AND CAPTURED TRACKS
On
Career, the keyboard, bass and drums trio start with a gentle opening with
Amanda Cheng’s tender vocals. The track gradually builds up with an
overwhelming sound of crashing of drums and odd synth entries. The energy
creates an atmosphere akin to a traditional loud power trio - except their
music is anything but traditional.
Wax Chattels create darkly hypnotic and frenetic music
that's both rhythmically complex and sinister. If that paints any sort of aural
picture, it comes as no surprise that
Gillian, their homage to
X-Files star Gillian Anderson, was roundly endorsed by the ex-punk actress
herself on social media before the band had even played shows outside of their
home country or received any support from larger press outlets.
Peter Ruddell (26, keyboards/vocals), Amanda Cheng (26, bass/vocals) and Tom
Leggett (22, drums) met studying Jazz Performance at the University of
Auckland, and started Wax Chattels a few years later. Since that time they have
honed their live-shows into something that is not to be missed - it was after a
particularly insane live performance that they were signed by both Captured
Tracks and Flying Nun Records on the spot. The band say "we
want to play shows that make people feel uncomfortable. The goal is to leave
the audience feeling slightly altered, like they have experienced, not just
heard or seen something."
From novels to tweets, bassist Amanda is drawn to art and writing that
addresses adversity. Her post-punk informed bass lines provide the backbone for
most of the band's tracks. Initially, Peter and Amanda started Wax
Chattels by writing tracks with a drum machine before realizing the band would
be more exciting with a live drummer. With the addition of Tom the
line-up was complete.
Composing together, Wax Chattels worked up their material for a year prior to
recording. "We tracked the songs as a live band to capture the energy of
the live show, restricting ourselves to instruments which we play live and
keeping all production to a minimum to focus on the band sound itself."
The band "come from" and "go to" different places on stage
and in their heads when they write, record and perform, largely because they
aren't the kind of band with homogeneous interests outside of music.
Wax Chattels recall the other side of Kiwi underground rock history, one that’s
a bit less sunny and a bit less jangly and one that demands your attention.
WAX CHATTELS - WAX CHATTELS
OUT MAY 18 ON FLYING NUN RECORDS & CAPTURED TRACKS
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