- With Josiah Wise's voice and songwriting, blisters would have been memorable no matter who produced it. This much was clear when he performed "flickering" with only a grand piano at the release show for his debut EP last week. The song is mostly just Wise's tragic, tender voice wilting over a few piano chords, and he carried the unplugged version easily. The involvement of British producer The Haxan Cloak, however, is what takes blisters to the next level. "flickering" is devastating enough with the heartbreaking lyrics about lost love, but Bobby Krlic's mournful synths and earth-shaking sub-bass make the feeling that much more physical.
Their darkness pairs perfectly. Wise sings of shame, desperation and loss, his weightless voice winding up and down in gospel spirals. "I'm fine with you being a liar," he coos to an imaginary lover on "four ethers," the EP's peak emotional moment. "I'm fine with you being a killer. I'm fine with you being suicidal—no, that shit don't bother me none." Where Wise draws our eyes to a dark side of humanity, Krlic's sound design suggests a similar kind of abyss, one that's impossible to look away from. Wise is classically trained, and "four ethers" foregrounds his orchestral inclinations. The violins, French horns and timpani evoke operatic levels of drama, especially with Krlic's giant noise crescendos that punctuate the story.
blisters unites the powers of spirituality and sex. Wise grew up in a God-fearing family, regularly attending a Pentecostal church, and gospel forms the backbone of this record. But it also oozes sex, not just because of suggestive lyrics but because of Wise's voice, which seems to shake and sweat with carnal desire. He makes spirituality and sex feel mutually reenforcing, rather than contradictory (it's been suggested that blisters posits sex as an act of faith). The title track in particular captures that feeling, with celestial harps and a deep, terrestrial bass that sneaks up quietly. It's an unusual pairing, much like Wise and Krlic, and it forms the tension behind a remarkably evocative record.
Tracklist01. blisters
02. flickering
03. four ethers
04. penance
05. redemption