we singing colors - Made of wool, made of heavy metal

We Singing Colors

Made of wool, made of heavy metal
self-released; 2014

4.2 out of 5

By J Simpson

We Singing Colors are a pop-folk band from Romania who just released their album

titled Made of wool, made of heavy metal. They started life as a solo project of Andrei Hategan in 2010, and have built up to a quartet. The backbone of strumming guitars and pastoral lyrics are joined by toy keyboards, drums and bass, giving the band the descriptor 'naive electronics' as well. This is true folk music for 2014, for kids who have grown up with trees, clubhouses, Game Cubes and electronic music. The overall impression I was left with was of some rustic cabin on the edge of a dark, primordial forest that happens to be decked out with drum machines and Wi-Fi.

We Singing Colors seem to be both playing into, and also parodying, cutesy Etsy culture, judging from the album art of someone impaling their hand with crocheting needles. I think there is a dark undercurrent of satire here, but the band seems mostly to be focusing on the positive, trying to build the world they want to inhabit. "Up on the top of the hills/Wanna talk to the forest /Everyone would feel so good." The optimism is commendable, but this overlooks the pain, blood, sickness, death, decay and hardship that is inherent to a life, very close to the land. It's all part of the nature, and sometimes these rosy sentiments run the risk of 'noble savage' syndrome.

What is most interesting about We Sing Colors is how similar they sound to music that could be emanating from the Pacific Northwest of the United States, or Colorado. Or probably Chile or Finland or Australia. It's invigorating that we are all coming together and communicating, but we're also losing a lot of dialects along the way. At least the band isn't playing up the fiddle and brass band Balkan stereotype of a band that happens to be from Romania, even though that music is some of my favorite on Earth, and I could pretty much listen to it all day long. 

Instead, We Singing Colors are making music that is honest and representative of where they're coming from. Even though this is the band's first record, they've played over 100 shows, including a bunch of guerrilla-style performances. This shows that the band has a work ethic and is willing to think outside the box, which will serve them well.

The recording and performances on Made of wool, made of heavy metal are crystal clear, and swathed in spacious reverb, making for a dreamy, relaxing listen. Plenty of sing-along moments mean this will go great on your early autumn playlists, for gentle breezes and evening strolls with leaves crunching underfoot. We Singing Colors seem pure of heart and intention, and it comes across in their music. We need more of this in the world. Death to cynicism!

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