Wax Chattels have announced their cathartic sophomore album, Clot, to be released on September 25 via Flying Nun and Captured Tracks.
Along with the announcement the band shares the first single 'No Ties'. Here AmandaCheng (bass/vocals), who is Hoklo Taiwanese, expresses the experience of being a first generation immigrant and not having a personal relationship with extended family. The song touches on cultural differences and the parental sacrifice of careers and support systems to provide a “better” future for their children.
“Being a first generation immigrant, I’ve never had a personal connection with my extended family. There’s an incomparable loneliness rooted in this — I think the weight of parental sacrifice and cultural estrangement is difficult for other Kiwis to understand. 'No Ties' comes from these frustrations, and the helpless desperation of watching the present-day political confrontations in my other, would-have-been, home.”
The bulk of the album was workshopped throughout 2019 across bedrooms and storage containers. Demos were recorded by JamesGoldsmith (Aldous Harding, Mermaidens) and maintaining only the barest of ingredients — bass guitar, keyboard, and a two- piece drum kit — the group experimented with and finding new sounds. They wanted to maintain the same live element as in their debut, but, this time, heavier — for which they enlisted the help of mixing engineer, and fellow noise-maker, Ben Greenberg (Uniform, Destruction Unit, The Men).
This new record keeps the visceral energy of the debut, but digs deeper into cathartic noise. Clot’s insights came from the doomy, gloomy corners of Auckland’s underbelly, and the theme of confrontation is central.
Wax Chattels’ hypnotically sinister debut reached #7 on the Official New Zealand Album Charts, and release week saw the title feature as #1 in Rough Trade’s Top 20 New Releases. Tastemakers like NPR and A.V. Club came on as early champions. The album’s success led to the nomination of Best Alternative Artistat the 2018 New Zealand Music Awards, as well as making the shortlist for the Taite Music Prize and Auckland Live Best Independent Debut Award.
PHOTO CREDIT: Ebru Yildiz