There’s always something particular in types of music that sounds like something Prince might have put out on one of his albums. Going all the way back to Prince’s Purple Rain, the soundtrack to the 1984 film he starred in, there are some amazing moments on the disc itself that really raise the movie to the next level. Prince will take a song like Computer Blue and add a different, almost unrelated bit of new music in the last minute and a half. That’s the kind of feeling I get from Into the Blackhole by HOAX. A song that takes a sound similar to Prince's and adds some rather thoughtful lyrics atop the elevated sound.
Not to make overt comparisons to the now-passed superstar, but someone working on Into the Blackhole feels as if they had definitely studied at that alter that Prince left behind. It’s not hard to see how possible that was as Prince was as great at playing all the instruments on his albums. He played around 27 different one's making his debut album in 1978. HOAX leans in Into the Blackhole with such a measured feeling. The drums and the guitar are calm, making this beautiful space for the lyrics to bring out all the feelings they don't want you to miss.
I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you. Bye…
Into The Blackhole starts with what sounds like some phone chatter. It’s difficult to hear at first, but the bit of it ends with a female voice saying "I love you. Bye.” It’s funny to start with that small, forgettable message just as the thicker guitar stabs in and the singer of HOAX comes in with the line “When I was younger, I thought that love was just lightning and thunder.” That was when I felt the hook remembering my own feelings of young love and first kisses. I wanted to know more as the song continued…
“But after we’ve weathered
Hell and high water
To lay here together
There’s no feeling better
the stare in your iris
To know that I am fully seen.”
Everything HOAX is on in this song is going for something so pure and instant. This person is all he wants to know as he lets the desire he feels bubble out the top of his body. A love he wants to shout about. A love he wants to proclaim. Deep down, isn’t that what we all want? It's an opportunity to spend time with someone who wants to be with us so badly they might fight someone trying to take it away.
In many ways, I think this is the impression I get from an artist like Prince. You always very clearly understood what his songs were about. It didn't matter if he was signing about witnessing doomsday in 1999, how a woman retains control of her assets in Pussy Control, or the history of Adam and Eve in the often-forgotten The Greatest Romance That's Ever Been Sold. Like many of the hundreds of songs he recorded, these songs are often very well understood. With Prince, it can be a song about anything, but you seldom need to question what each song is about.
I've never seen HOAX, but truly feel like I have a clear idea of what Into the Blackhole is about. It's talking about your first date. It's making something that matters to you matter to everyone in earshot. That is a special thing to have today. A straightforward song about going into the finality of gravity because you found out you’re “two halves of a whole soul.” Again… it might not be for everyone, but you understand in the first few seconds of listening what this song is about... the gravity-bending nature of being in love.
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