Review: Cold Cave – Love Comes Close
Cold Cave – Love Comes Close (2009) [Heartworm] // Grade: B+
Wesley Eisold who some of you may be familiar with from Hardcore bands Some Girls & American Nightmare/Give Up the Ghost has been building up buzz for his debut stab at Cold & Minimal Wave since late last year. This year alone Cold Cave has issued the Edsel & Ruby EP, whose 3 tracks appear in their entirety on Love Comes Close, and a varied and experimental collection of demos, b-sides and live recordings called Cremations. So anticipation was high for this one… at least for me anyway.
Eisbold along with an army of roving musicians and vocalists make their home at the melodic and faint fringes that separate Minimal, Dark & Cold Wave, while taking occasional strolls out to the downright noisier side of 80′s experimental music. It’s eclectic, challenging and very inviting to whom this may be their first taste of a Wave that doesn’t start with “New”.
While I’m sure the sound and style of Love Comes Close may come as old hat to listener’s fully versed in the albums of Snowy Red, Babel 17 or Ruth, it’s still a weird and stirring journey through 80′s Wave that deftly toes the line between homage and novelty that even the most satiated of listeners will take something away from it. The only thing that drives me crazy about the album is why the title track’s synth riff takes so generously from Q Lazarus’ “Goodbye Horses”, which trust me you’ll all recognize.
I get the sense that because of Eisbold’s built-in fanbase and just the general growing interest in Minimal, Dark & Cold Wave, Love Comes Close may serve as the perfect gateway album in triggering a widespread re-interest in all forms of obscure 80′s Wave, similar to how the Rapture, Liars, !!! and Interpol rekindled a fascination with 70s/80s era Post-Punk earlier this decade.
