Music Review: Beeswax – Growing Up Late
Perhaps the debut album adie indie rock / emo from the city of Malang is already quite a lot of praise and discussed everywhere. It honestly makes me a little confused, "What else to discuss?". Speaking of Beeswax, this name is quite phenomenal and seems very hot indeed, at least in their own city of Malang. I myself assume that if there is a local release that has the potential to be very essential within the scope of emo mid 90's in Indonesia, this Beeswax album may be included in the count.
Their debut album titled Grow Up Late and released by Barongsai Records. A title that makes me instantly remember to the quote of contemporary origin abroad, growing up sucks. Speaking of 'growing up', the phrase is often used as a theme, be it literature, film, and music. A theme that is overused if I may say, so before seeing or hearing the contents of the artwork we usually have a tendency to directly guess what will be delivered.
The greatest challenge in exploiting a theme so often raised is clearly high. There are several options in doing that, such as using a slightly different way or bringing it elegantly. Of those two things are just a few of the many methods that can be used, but one thing we can do now is that everyone has grown. Making this 'growing up' theme to be very relatable and I think Beeswax smart enough in choosing and exploiting this theme. Before I start discussing this album as a whole, I want to pour some of my opinions on 'growing up late'.
Regardless of Beeswax's album content, 'growing up late' for me is a phase in which we refuse to let go of the fun of youth to grow old. Being an elder is often interpreted as a tragedy, maybe that's also what ultimately answers why there is a sentence titled growing up sucks. The idea of escaping the demands of becoming an adult then grew and frankly the escape sounded more fun. Little by little finally restored a principle of "I do not want to be an adult." No doubt, youth is a time where we feel in love and heartbreak for the first time so that the period is so memorable. Using that approach, I feel that growing up late is a self-statement to celebrate what has happened in our youth, both bad and pleasant. Using that approach also I finally listen to this album and the result was not disappointing.
The album opens with an engaging indie rock riff and is then joined by the lyrics "It's hard things to say" over and over again. The part sounds like an attempt to build the mood and laying the important foundation that will be the center of the entire contents of the album. When we listen to the second song, we will understand that there is a story being built here, a story built on a pretty dark mood. It is also the main attraction of this album because Beeswax has been successful in communicating their story in a way that is not cheap. They like to bring us to participate in feeling what they experience. If we follow this album from beginning to end, we will realize that their story is full of indecisiveness-the reassurance of self-recoils hesitations-had time to give up self-blame-hesitated again until finally reaching climax which fortunately can be called as happy ending. Although the question at the end of the album would open up many new possibilities that could have been more painful. It can be said that this album is like a roller coaster ride, which finally makes us curious about what stories will be presented next.
In addition to the album theme, the instrument department at Growing Up Late is one of the things I love. Each personnel knows what to do with their instruments, without trying to take on more spotlight than other instruments. In some sections, we can also hear them being possessed by Mike Kinsella with a structure that is a little difficult to sense, unpredictable, without loss of sanity and sensible. For me personally, the 1:15 minute of the song "The Most Pathetic One On Planet" is one of the best parts on this album that is able to explain my reasons in the previous sentence.
The album is about mood building, including how they use the instruments available as a means to achieve their goals in mood creation. Instruments in this album is the background that became the foundation of the story to be conveyed. For example, the jangly guitars they play on songs like "Bleed" or "Take Me Home" are obviously not intended for cheerful lyrics, but as the background of the story is quite thrilling and from some parts they offer, it can be said all coherent to one to another. Including when they decided to record a vowel with a fairly low gain, it was all about creating a mood that supported the story telling process. If you are not interested in the story on this album, you can listen to the music only.
Although it seems almost impossible to refuse the invitation to dive into the lyrics on this album as soon as you listen to this album. The music on the album is gently playing, twin-twisted guitar, like dancing, creating the illusion that human memory is beautiful. Until finally we collide with a nightmare called reality. Finally, If you anticipate an album based on a pop-ish hook waiting to be sung in every second, maybe this album is not for you guys.
This album needs time to grow, but when that time comes we will begin to appreciate this album, including what the album is trying to convey. Grow up late is not a bad thing just because we do not want to be mature as in general. Grow up late is about interpreting every event that has taken place to gain a new perspective which then gives us courage to say "It's okay to be sad". Finally the album is like a nudity, pure and authentic.
Go listen: "The Most Pathetic One On Planet", "Take Me Home", "Start The Line Break It All"