I swung the ship from coast to the coast.
So begins Love’s Holiday if to apologize for the six-year-long absence. For the past thirty-some years, Oxbow seem to blink in and out of existence. Known for putting the brain on a high-wire act to keep up, we last saw the act in 2017 with Thin Black Duke. Since then, vocalist Eugene S. Robinson has done some impressive work with Buñuel, like last year’s Killers Like Us. Notions of a new Oxbow album have bubbled for a little while, finally being confirmed this spring.
And this god of love does not love god,
Which makes us all so much worse.
The album starts off with single “Dead Ahead”, which immediately features Robinson’s signature swagger over top of a driving, pulsing guitar lead. Arguably not as unhinged as some of their previous efforts, it nonetheless still showcases endless amounts of bravado. Surely, this track would not feature on Fuckfest or any of those early albums, but it certainly feels more polished and refined as one might expect after all these years.
How much of what dances,
At the end of a pin.
You can fit in,
Before dawn of the day.
Next track “Icy White & Crystalline” continues in a similar vein. This time a bit faster in the pace, but comparable in structure and sound. By this track, a long-time fan may start to voice their concern as it becomes clearer that Love’s Holiday represents a departure from the norm. This notion proves correct, but the highlights come quite soon afterwards.
The singles make up three of the first four tracks, but the one left out is the one really worth discussing. “Lovely Murk”, which features vocal contributions from Lingua Ignota, stands out as the high-water mark. A simple arpeggio punctuates an overall quieter affair, with Robinson at the center as always. This track doesn’t sound like Oxbow, but nonetheless manages to fit well within the context of the album.
There are 1000 hours in my day.
Life has lost its taste.
Don’t think I can live without you.
Next track, and the leading single for the album, 1000 Hours features Jellyfish‘s Roger Joseph Manning Jr. Worthy of the discussion for the other peak here. Repetitious on the lyrical side but to solid effect, it again slows things down but fills the sound well. Anyone hearing this as their first exposure already has a decent idea of what to expect on the album at large. Oxbow chooses to tread on largely new ground, and have a good degree of success in doing so.
With that being said, if you’re not convinced by the effective halfway point of the album, the rest of the album probably won’t change your mind. The choral intro of “All Gone” sounds downright opulent when the slow piano breaks through. “Million Dollar Weekend” features some groovy guitar licks to compliment Robinson’s slow croon. Closer “Gunwale” starts with yet another chorus, this time with a song even more sparse than those before.
With all that being said, and acknowledging the album’s mid-section may be a little light, the last two tracks prove that this iteration of Oxbow is as vibrant as ever. Penultimate song “The Second Talk”‘s proclamation that “fucking is a dangerous game” sounds absolutely vintage, shortly before Robinson takes a few seconds to wail to himself. He absolutely crushes the performance on Gunwale as well, as convincing as ever.
Ultimately, this is not An Evil Heat, nor is it Thin Black Duke. Instead, Oxbow reinvents itself while also sticking to the formula of trusting Robinson at all costs. This formula pays off, so while I do miss the ragged edge of some of their earlier material, Love’s Holiday does the job well – just a different job.
8/10
Oxbow – Love’s Holiday comes out this Friday, July 21 on Ipecac Recordings and you can pre-order it here.