RedShadow - You'll Wake Up Once You Feel The Cold
RedShadow, a solo project from San Nicolás, Mexico, released his sophomore album You'll Wake Up Once You Feel The Cold late 2020. While the album mainly delivered generic indie-rock and low-fi pop, it interestingly incorporated elements of new-wave, blues, grunge and shoegaze.
The album begins with the rather alluring, yet simple title track. The vocals throughout the proceeding record are consistently captivating, with Dread the Morning being the only exception (quite a jarring, but fitting delivery). Furthermore, The Spanish lyrics are quite charming, especially during Terminar, despite not making any sense to the English listener. Nevertheless, they complement the instrumentation extraordinarily well. The gritty industrial vibes and foley beats give plenty of life to I’m So Into You. STEAL THIS RIFF’s riff sound like it was stolen, but the clean production and energetic vocals are alluring. Don’t Get You has some neat, creative instrumentals between the vocals, as well as one pumping outro. I’m not here is admirably spacious and discontent, as is I’ve Been So Far, which is quite a lovely song with some creative and delicate songwriting moments. The album works best when it focuses these spacious sombre moments, as well on the opposite side of the spectrum with its gorgeous sections of noise.
A lot of these songs capture the mood quite elegantly, though many are one-trick ponies. The biggest exception is Chaos and Order, which demonstrates that, despite being a solo artist, Redshadow is clearly capable of delivering sure-fire jams instrumentally. Had the album featured more of these fleshed out segments, it would have come at a higher recommendation. Unfortunately, the remaining album is overflowing with filler. At times, it comes in succession, such as Locked in with the Key, Nostalgia and Donde Duermen Los Coyotes, and further down the tracklisting with F Word and Mirando Pal Shielo Mirando Pal Tsuelo. As mentioned in the introduction, the album fascinatingly incorporates elements of new-wave, blues, grunge and shoegaze. Aesthetically, these are the best parts of the album; however, the formulaic pop constrictions continuously hold back these aspirations, resulting in these fringe genres sounding like a lick of paint. Redshadow never capitalises on their true potential.
You'll Wake Up Once You Feel The Cold has a lot to say personally, but creatively has very little to differentiate itself from the canon of rock music. The execution is impressive, though, especially for a solo effort. Moreover, the vocalist has quite a lot of personality – his delivery alone makes the work uniquely identifiable. The skill is undeniable; Redshadow will simply need to create something more unique next time in order to stand out, and be careful to avoid filler.
Average
Listen to it here:
https://redshadow.bandcamp.com/album/youll-wake-up-once-you-feel-the-cold
