STACK #179 Sept 2019

MUSIC

FEATURE

WAAX

Big Grief by WAAX is out now via Dew Process.

L ike a championship title fight, you might have to take a few blows on the way to victory. Brisbane five-piece WAAX have taken the long, beaten track towards the release of their triumphant debut album, Big Grief . Frontwoman Maz DeVita paces back and forth between choruses like a bull stalking its matador during Labrador, I Am and FU , the trio of lead singles providing plenty of opportunities to beat your chest, pump your fist and scream at the top of your lungs. On the other end of the scale, the band unclench their fists in mid-album slow- burners Changing Face and History , showing moments of restraint and vulnerability; a softer side rarely seen before now, it’s a welcome string to the band’s growing bow. DeVita’s songwriting isn’t especially prophetic or conceptual, but it’s authentic and raw – traits that have always been WAAX’s most endearing qualities. Traversing internal monologues and external expressions, Big Grief explores breakups, gaslighting, anxiety, body image and loss, with a fuzzy wave of distortion and riffs washing over the top of it all. “For someone so careful I do some reckless things,” DeVita sings during album closer IDKWIFL . “I’m saying sorry before I even speak”. It’s in these flashes of self-doubt and inner reflection where DeVita drops her guard, that the rest of the album is elevated to its soaring, empowered peaks. Tim Lambert

hand store; his fascination with this instrument informed State Of The Art ’s lyrical theme and video concept. De Backer sang the entire song in monotone and then electronically shifted each note, warping the vocal melody to sound like phrases beamed in from another dimension. Making Mirrors was launched at the Sydney Opera House as part of the Graphic Festival, with Gotye accompanied by a ten-piece orchestra for a performance that was also brought to life visually by animators. The album collected five ARIA Awards in 2012, before Gotye took out the 2013 Best Alternative Music Album Grammy. (Random fact from Gotye’s Grammys.com artist page: “Gotye has been the subject of multiple clues on the television game show Jeopardy!. ”) De Backer has described the Helpmann Award-winning Gotye Presents A Tribute To Jean-Jacques Perrey (Sydney Festival, 2018) as a “two-year labour of love”. During his fascinating J Files episode, De Backer revealed he had also paid tribute to the late French artist he affectionately refers to as his “spiritual grandfather” by writing a song, which will appear on the next Gotye album. Even though we’re all well aware that you can’t rush perfection, when will our ears be blessed with fresh Gotye input!? (No pressure, Wally.) BC

of a Taiwanese traditional song (off Frances Yip’s Discovery record), which inspired State Of The Art . While he was recording Making Mirrors , De Backer’s parents bought him a vintage Lowrey Cotillion Model D-575 organ, which they purchased for 100 bucks at a second

acoustic instruments. Becoming particularly interested in autoharp, he recorded one note at a time, storing each note in a sampler on his laptop and then playing these individual notes back through a MIDI keyboard. But soon the lure of sampling old vinyl returned when he sourced a horn break from a one-off recording

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