Review Summary: RX Bandits frontman goes acoustic.
In 2006 the world got it's first peak at RX Bandits frontman/guitarist Matt Embree's solo project Love You Moon when Embree played an opening slot on The Sound of Animals Fighting's first and last tour. Taking the stage with only a borrowed acoustic guitar, Embree serenaded the crowd with a set of heavily worded, Dylan-esque, singer-songwriter folk. Some two years later the Love You Moon project finally got an official release under its belt with the release of 2008's
Waxwane.
Waxwane opens with the highly politicized "Screams in a Vacuum". Embree's diatribe against the excesses of commercialism is spat out in a highly rhythmic pattern that recalls Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" with biting lines like
"Well the pictures they tell me what it takes to be a man/ I need a high paying job and buy as much as i can./ And I ain't really strong without a gun in my hand/ With a mouth full of meat I choke "United We Stand!" set over a distorted acoustic guitar. This theme of the politically aware is also found in "The Last Words of Nicholas Berg" (For those unaware Nicholas Berg was a US contractor who was decapitated by Islamic militants in Iraq in 2004 as retaliation for the abuses at the now infamous Abu-Ghraib prison) and on the jangly anti-commercialism blue's romp "H-Bombs and Strip Malls". To those who side to the right with their political views or are fans of subtlety, the political side of Embree might wear thin as the lyrics are overtly left leaning with all of the subtlety of a brick. This isn't surprising in the least though given his work in the RX Bandits.
Much like the RX Bandits, the ideological aspect of Love You Moon only represents part of the album. The other songs on
Waxwane show a more personal and intimate side of Matt Embree. "Why Pop Stars Sell Silicone" is somewhat of a more human version of the RX Bandits song "Sell You Beautiful" as it blends both the message of being wary of the unrealistic, airbrushed self-image perpetuated in magazines with a story of a friends' battle with addiction. "David's Birthday" is an ode to Embree's brother and is also the only song to skirt the sparse instrumentation that is found on the rest of
Waxwane for a full band and electric guitars. This makes it the most upbeat and memorable song on the album and its refrain of
"She's got his number!" would feel right at home on pop radio. The most intimate of the tracks on
Waxwane is also it's best. "Brown Shingle Berkeley's" story of a lost love is delicately beautiful with its hushed singing and finger picked guitar work. Sure it's reminiscent of Jack Johnson's brand of lady pleasing soft rock but with endearing lines like
"We talked all night about tattoos and the way we used to be/ The sun came up, and it was time for me to sleep" its hard not to be wooed by it.
While Embree's foray into the singer-songwriter arena is far from original,
Waxwane offers a solid listening experience and is the best out of all of his side projects (Coke vs Bills, Apotheke, Peba Luna) with the exception of his work in The Sound of Animals Fighting. The ideological slant might be off putting to some more conservative listeners but even they would have a hard time denying the charm and personality in tracks like "Brown Shingle Berkeley".
