Oxbow are like an uninvited guest who arrive halfway through the evening to liven up proceedings and re-aquaint us with reality. Their family tree includes luminaries such as Captain Beefheart's Magic Band, Stooges, Pere Ubu, PiL Pop Band. Not something you'd care for every day, but something you need every once in a while for your own good. If only to clean out the pipes.
The San Francisco veterans have been around since the Eighties, but clearly aren't planning on sitting down and conforming just yet. Latest record Love's Holiday is almost a ten track saturnalia to the DNA shared by the acts above.
They turn the heat up and turn it down as they see fit. This isn't all unleavened Punk Rock. At the heart of the mix is the ongoing wrestle between lead singer Eugene Robinson and lead guitarist Niko Wenner.
They're a band that take their time and leave lengthy intervals between pronouncements. This is only their eighth album in almost thirty five years. Which give you reason to assume they choose their words and backdrops carefully.
I imagine there are those that swear by this band. It's good to have bands who don't conform to any given script. There's an almost Biblical intensity to some of these tunes. It's a reckoning.
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