"Adolescent Assemblage" EP by WAX
Adolescent Assemblage is exactly what it sounds like. This EP is an exploration and mish-mash of musician WAX’s (Joaquin Roldan) journey through late adolescence. A collection or a gathering of things or people, assemblage is represented in the EP by the various themes that WAX has to navigate and overcome in his journey through late Adolescence. Each song can be likened as a new lesson WAX learns on the road to maturity. Musically, Adolescent Assemblage is a show of the influence of various Indie musicians he grew up listening to in Metro Manila.
The EP has a great mix of catchy riffs and lyrics - some I see crowds yelling (especially the riffs) while throwing bodies around in a mosh pit. With the influences definitely shining through, its an EP I can find myself coming back to over and over again to get that Mow's energy back during this long lockdown. I'm really looking forward to the live sets that WAX and his would-be band would come up with!
I was also able to have a quick chat with the artist about his release.
JANLOR: What drew you to the sound/style of your musical influences compared to other artists?
WAX: I think what drew me to this style was the simple yet catchy and dance-y melodies all coming together with the punchy drum beats. When I first watched a gig at Mow's, I remember hearing and seeing The Buildings for the first time, and seeing everyone mosh and jump around, that really put me in awe and part of me wanted to emulate that one day.
J: I'm familiar with your work as a guitarist so who played the other instruments in the EP?
W: Besides the guitar I played the bass and the synth elements. In most of the songs, I used Garage Band's smart drum plug-in that basically gave me a robot drummer I could tweak to my liking. Though, for "The Clouds", I thought it would really make a difference in the song if they were played by real drums, so I asked Kean Reformado from the buildings to play drums for that song.
J: If we weren't in lockdown when you made/released the EP, what would you have changed or improved on?
W: Actually I already planned on producing the EP with Kean at his studio before the pandemic started, but of course that didn't end up happening though I did solicit a lot of advice from him in terms of mixing and mastering. Playing the songs out live would have probably helped me figure out the songs arrangement in a different way especially if I played it with a band.
J: What's next for WAX?
W: To be honest I'm not quite sure, I'm definitely gonna continue making music. But I feel my musical arsenal is quite limited so I'll probably take my time experimenting with other genres and sounds to improve on my next releases.
Stream Adolescent Assemblage below!