There is nothing wrong with playing in the shallows. It is fun and safe but there is something more life affirming about daring to swim deep. In the depths you are in another magical realm and the danger of death is merely a missed breath away. This is true for all aspects of life and art.
Queens, New York indie pop Hoax, the musical project of Michael Raj and Frantz Cesar go deep in their narrative driven debut concept album b? and their track “Western Medicine” with it's searing and sweet strings and kind of 70's chamber pop forward stance (and dance) touches on the brevity of life, the fleeting nature of our search to become our true self and the inherent mistakes we make trying to do so.
Kurt Vonnegut once fantasized, “Everything was beautiful, and nothing hurt.” A euphoric numbing that we rarely experience. Pain is as natural to humans as air is to breathe, and as beings with natural tendencies to rationalize, we try to make sense of pain through philosophy, religion, and science. This is the message behind “Western Medicine”.
“I think humans kind of live through this notion that ‘as long as there is breath, there is hope’. We fixate on this, and spend so much time pondering on the meaning of our meandering existence, only to resort to these proclaimed ‘Western Medicine’ that allow our self-formulated expectations to control us and guide our decisions when really, they are just “miracle snake oils” than healthy lifestyles. But I do understand why, I think. Existence is painful, and numbing seems necessary.”
-Michael Raj
Western Medicine is beautifully bittersweet in tone. I love the sweeping feeling that wraps around you and the melodies steeped (in some ways) in another era when pop music felt less vapid.
HOAX call their self-described style of music “empathy pop" drawing their aesthetic from 60’s pop, 70’s Motown, and alternative R&B. A close friend of theirs called their music,“the beautiful sound of sadness", and I get it but their musical aesthetic holds glimmers hope and longing for truth within that sadness. [Their music thematically focuses on the human condition, explorations of social constructs, and the decisions people make based from them, all tucked underneath pop melodies.]
- Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:
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HOAX is an indie pop-rock band from Queens, New York. It is the musical brainchild of Michael Raj and Frantz Cesar, who create the sonics and concepts behind their self-described style of “empathy pop” music. Their modern vintage musical sound draws from a wide range of influences like 60’s pop, 70’s Motown, and alternative R&B. They like to see themselves as “the beautiful sound of sadness”, a description coined by a close friend. Their music thematically focuses on the human condition, explorations of social constructs, and the decisions people make based from them, all tucked underneath pop melodies.
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