Wesley Eisold - Cold Cave

Wesley Eisold is a musician, poet, author, publisher and has has been active since the early 2000's. First as vocalist for highly influential band, American Nightmare and most recently as solo artist Cold Cave. Originally I thought of looking to older electronic artist's that are more in line with my own musical tastes but I couldn't really settle on one particular artist or label. A lot of music that I listen to from the era when electronic music first began to evolve, really only incorporated electronic elements as complimentary flourishes. I also wanted to focus on a solo artist and not a one member of a band.

Eisold's project Cold Cave however is nearly entirely electronic. When American Nightmare finished, he looked to write songs that he could use to carry the lyrics he was writing at the time and settled on synth based music. Partly due to it's change in pace from what AN were doing but also due to the fact that he was born without his left hand and was able to write and play all of the music himself. The dark tones of analogue synths and sterile precision of drum machines lend atmosphere to the tracks and provide an excellent base for which the dark lyrical content is based off of. Without being a carbon copy of early British new wave and noise artists, Eisold uses that era to inform his project, creating a mix of sombre dark wave and modern synth pop.

This track is from 2009's full length Love Comes Close. I really enjoy this track because if you dropped it into the centre of 1985 it would blend in perfectly and stand out at the same time. It's like a blend of Movement era New Order and the more subdued moments from The Cure's album, Pornography. The whole track feels as though it's one giant crescendo, building to this huge moment but then it just ends. I actually really like that however, because it essentially spends 4 minutes creating this anxiety of whats to come and then rather than launch into whats obvious, it neatly wraps up. It's a clever act of coquetry and it in the context of the rest of the record it's perfect, there is no need for a big moment. I think the only thing that would make it better was if it went for 10 minutes and finished the record.

Since this release, Cold Cave have only released one full length, Cherish The Light Years. Eisold openly claims to despise the record. Describing it as an incredibly polished album that was the result of collaborating with unfamiliar artists and Matador Records investing a lot of money in the project to make it listenable. Currently he only collaborates with his wife and the two have released several singles à la Factory Records, with a new record not far away.

Honourable mention - Oceans With No End 7''