Cold Cave’s Wes Eisold talks about the inspirations behind ‘Cherish the Light Years’
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At Cold cave2011 album Cherish the light years, Wes Eisold channeled a variety of ’80s influences – new wave, goth, heartland rock – on his nine emotionally charged, danceable and very catchy songs, such as “The Great Pan is Dead”, “Confetti” and ” Villains of the Moon. ” Ten years later, it still sounds great, and you can review the album below.
Cherish the light years receives a 10th anniversary reissue with new cover art, unreleased song (“Believe in My Blood”) and color vinyl options, and Cold Cave will perform the album live later this year at special shows in Los Angeles. and New York. The reissue comes out in September and with the announcement we asked Wes to tell us about some of the album’s influences.
Wes gave us a list of five albums – three from the ’80s and two from the’ 90s – that had a major impact on the sound of Cherish the light years. Some of them may be obvious (like Sisters of Mercy) but others are less so, and Wes writes a bit about each of them with compelling stories from his life and the band. Check out Wes’s list below.
COLD CAVE’S WES EISOLD – FIVE RECORDS THAT INFLUENCED CHERISH THE BRIGHT YEARS
Siouxsie and the Banshees – A kiss in the dream house
I appreciate the brevity and rawness of this 1982 record. Siouxsie’s voice resonated with me because it evoked both confidence and despair, strength and vulnerability. I brought a recorder because of “Green Fingers” and even asked Nick Zinner to play guitar influenced by this record in the chorus of “Alchemy And You”. Peter Hook is surely the god of chorus-y bass but Steven Severin should not be overlooked. New anthemic downers of romanticism. It was a good idea to run with it.
Morrissey – Vauxhall and me
I asked myself “Why sing at all?” We cling to the artists whose words brought us to life and that’s all I’ve ever wanted to do. The songs were bold and I had to sing in a way that empowered the words. No more ambiguity or disguise. My barely open and shy voice was not going to work, I learned to be present. Morrissey is full of references that have led to other worlds which are gateways if you can see the doors. Like how âVillainsâ was a cover of a poem by Genet and âConfettiâ plays on Robert Bly.
The treatment – Kiss me kiss me kiss me
I loved how Kiss Me the songs varied so much and it was encouraging. âThe Kissâ and âWhy Can’t I Be Youâ are worlds apart, as are âBurning Sageâ and âCatacombsâ. I consciously wanted to make a record that would reference the ’80s albums that I loved and that shaped me, sonically, instead of one that hinted at nostalgia. Kiss Me allowed me to bring different instruments, namely horns and strings, without compromising the underlying and overlying darkness that saturates through all that is Cold Cave.
The Sisters of Mercy – Floodland
I have a lot of sense if you imagine me in 9th grade on a bus crossing Poland with the school group Floodland on headphones. I played the trumpet. I didn’t like it but everything in music was good enough. With “The Great Pan Is Dead”, I channeled Swans “Love of Life” but I had hoped for the grandiose production which was the triumph of Floodland. There is an icy melodramatic urgency here that I felt. In 2010, a lot of records coming out seemed so genderless.
Sweden – Star Man Dog
I found masochism and debauchery romantic because if I hadn’t, it would have been suicidal. Suede was glamorous and durable. Sometimes the people who get tough were first the people who were overly sensitive, and who are rusted by the world’s indifference to their sensitivity. On the Cherish turn, we were arrested in Kansas and held by the police execution style on a sidewalk outside an exiting elementary school. I was wearing my Rick Owens high heel platforms and my teammate was crying which made me laugh hysterically. This event sort of sums up that time for me.
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