Wax Fang: La La Land

By: Dennis Cook

This is a journey and if you consciously forget to pack preconceptions in your bindle then you’re gonna have a great time with Wax Fang‘s La La Land (released October 14 on Don’t Panic Records), which trundles headlong like a modern day child of Their Satanic Majesties Request or Magical Mystery Tour punctured by angular, darkly hued ’80s post-punk and sprinkled with bone deep amusement. Where “World War II (Pt. 2)” captures Queen’s pomp, “Cannibal Summer” is post-modern thickness stuffed with cock rockin’ riffs. Their laughter hangs out on “The Doctor Will See You Now,” which encourages us to stay away from medical practitioners unless there’s something actually wrong with us. “Avant Guardian Angel Dust” is like something Eno-Byrne might cook up if they weren’t so sleepy together, and Wax Fang perfectly follows it with a beguilingly folksy ditty, “Oh, Recklessness,” expanding on the stillness of the previous instrumental but not succumbing to it. And they take similar turns throughout, shifting away from each movement with subtle intelligence, so it makes sense for the pretty bits to mingle with the near metal-prog of “Black & Endless Night Revisited” or other prickly bits. Ending by telling us “Wake Up, Sleepyhead,” Wax Fang trail off in a cloud of twinkling lights that illuminate tattered stars ‘n’ stripes, a bruised sort of patriotism that celebrates liberty by living with few constrictions.

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