Wax Owls - “All On Red”
Photo by Nina Ripich
It’s finally the end of another work week and if the coffee isn’t putting enough pep in your step, we would like to suggest filling your proverbial cup with the upbeat sounds of “All On Red,” the latest release from LA-based Wax Owls.
This one begins with the wonderful sounds of reverberating electric guitar, meticulously picked above a distant and understated percussion track. The sound is divine and slightly reminiscent of Julien Baker’s “Faith Healer,” one of our favorite songs of all time. A fantastic build elevates the production, ultimately resulting in the appearance of vocalist Gerry Hirschfield, as he confidently delivers a potential solution to indecision.
His voice is warm and honest, with some of the same flavor we’ve come to know and love from Wesley Schultz of The Lumineers. Fantastic layers of harmonies are added at the most opportune of times, doing more than their part to draw in anyone lucky enough to listen. The refrain beholds quite a cinematic lift that expands the arrangement to the far ends of the soundscape, dramatically ebbing and flowing as it adds and removes elements.
Gang vocals ignite the sonic space and, as the track pushes forward, it becomes exceedingly clear that great effort went into perfecting the sound. The songwriting is topnotch, but the performance, editing, and overall production lead us to believe that this is definitely the product of capable hands. And though we are often drawn to the more intimate bedroom recordings, there is nothing like the sheer epic proportions of a larger studio creation.
In just over three minutes, Wax Owls encourage you to always bet on yourself, with Hirschfield adding: “I wrote ‘All On Red’ as a way to work through indecision. Even the most self-assured people will occasionally suffer from not being able to make a choice. We’ll ask friends and family for advice but ultimately it is up to us to make the final call on what we’re going to do and even after making our choice we can wrestle with whether or not we made the right choice. Nothing typifies this more than the moments after you place a bet on the roulette table and you watch the ball spinning hoping it lands the way you want it to. Musically, the song exists in those hopeful moments after you make a decision and before you know the outcome, good or bad.”
-HD