GENRE: EMO / ALTERNATIVE ROCK
RELEASE DATE: 15 NOVEMBER 2019
An emo band hailing from Malang, Indonesia, Beeswax’s new single takes a mellower, ballad-esque route.
Beeswax came to our attention last year with the release of their debut album Saudade. There’s a poignancy behind an emo band calling their album the Portuguese word for “melancholy”. The band doesn’t just use the word as a fancy turn of phrase for “emotional” or “sad”, but also as a teaser to an incredible knack for drama in their songwriting. Cheap turns and emo cliches are few and far between music-wise, although you will get your dose of shouty outbursts and mathy riffs. Essentially, it all comes down to the really sweet guitar melodies on the album that really sells Saudade as a great emo record. The Firewalk is a great showcase of the band's knack for building up and paying off in a short time-frame of mini dramas. Give it a listen if you wanna know what we mean.
But this isn’t a review of Saudade, this is a review of their latest single, Admire. It’s a slow cut, with gorgeous piano sections, little twinkling guitars, and strings-on-synths. The slightly imperfect vocal chemistry between Bagas and Tiara is magnificently awkward yet dreamy. The perfect kinda setting for a song about admiring someone from a far.
The song ends too soon without doing too much, but if there’s any function it serves, it makes for a great score for crushes you have that are crushing your insides. (trying to keep to the emo thing). Nothing here feels as impactful as the tracks from Saudade, but it’s definitely their best single so far from 2019.
The song “Admire”, as is stated in their Bandcamp, is also Beeswax’s last track before their guitarist leaves them.
RATING:
3.5 / 5
Listen to Saudade: