When Paint Receives A Voice
Cedars, “Cowards”, and Impressionism
The light in your life varies by day. Sometimes your frame of reference and outlook are cheery and bright. At other times, your outlook is murky and shadow-ridden. If you are lucky, the shadow-times quickly pass and you are mentally warmed by the return of the light. The shift of the light all comes with lessons, and all lessons lead to reflection about yourself, your world, and the interaction between the two.
If we were to liken this to an artistic movement, it would be impressionism. The likes of Monet and Van Gogh used choppy brushstrokes to capture the shifting of the light and give it motion and mood. Monet’s calm, powdery bridges, waterscapes, and architecture contrast the sharp, brightly colored, stabbed strokes of Van Gogh’s. And while both men’s lives varied greatly in mental state and feeling of accomplishment, they “lived” under the same umbrella movement that continues to bring joy and contemplation to generations of art lovers.
The Impressionists were first called to mind when I found the 11 June 2021 album release “Cowards” by the New Braunfels, Texas band, Cedars.
The picture on the cover could be a cliff with a waterfall as easily as it could be an over digitized partial picture of a body. Like this cover, Cedar’s music is part conventional metal, and part digital/industrial. It balances the light and the dark handed to us from life and attempts to make sense of them.
This balance and the struggles we each wrestle with tied to it are the core of the “Cowards” album. Per the band:
Cowards, at its core, is an album about choosing yourself, even in the face of great consequences. So often we find ourselves in situations or systems that ask us to minimize ourselves or our desires or even our needs, but there comes a point where we have to make some really tough choices: do we continue to support the system that is crushing us and building itself on our backs, or do we honour our own still, small voice?
The album is the story of finding ourselves in a season of life where those choices were very pressing, and very loud, with very real consequences. There are times when death is necessary to make room for the new, the better, and sometimes the knife is in our own hands. The album, though full of heavy moments, is also woven with bright strands of hope and light, the kind that can only come after great loss and struggle.
How quietly we go to war.
Cedars is comprised of Sandeigh Kennedy (Lead Vocals), Drew Heaton (Lead Vocals, Guitar, Synth), Chris Rodriguez (Lead Guitar), Chris Santos (Bass), and Kaleb Perez (Drums). Their sound is complex. Whether solo or shared with Heaton, Kennedy’s vocals lift us gently over the different soundscapes. These soundscapes are part ethereal, gentle compositions, and at times beat- driven electro-rock rollercoasters. The album defies a single genre - it ebbs and flows through multitudes as it explores complex storylines focusing on the varied faces of truth and beauty.
Take as a taster the track “Chasing Vapor”
In the stillness of the fallout
When all the paper turned to ash
You were still standing on the shoreline
We have the same blood on our handsChasing vapor
Flying too close to the sun
These wings are paper
And nothing is enough
Like Van Gogh, Cedars reaches out to touch the darkness for understanding. The vocals take us above the chaos, while the beats keep us chained to the ground. Like Monet, they scan the darkness to brush in those moments of light. What is left is the listener impression, which alters based on personal experiences. The journey is disorienting, raw, dark, and beautiful.
