Not The Worst It Gets

from The Red Brain by Wax Mannequin

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    Purchasable with gift card

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  • Buy the Full Digital Album

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Wax Mannequin - The Red Brain - Album Guide

    The Red Brain begins with “The Obelisk,” as Adeney’s deep, inviting voice is trailed by the steady strum of a guitar, jangling riffs, and the warm glow of an organ. Struggling with a Brian Wilson-esque feeling of not being made for the times, he sings about how “we turn a blind eye to looming existential threats in order to maintain chaotic, quasi-functional
    domesticity.” In its choruses, the song travels to a far-distant future where obelisks are constructed to laugh at humanity’s plights, highlighting Wax Mannequin’s fantastical, sci-fi world building.

    ”Wrong About You” is inspired by Adeney’s experiences as a student and elementary school teacher of language, arts, and drama. Barreling ahead with a soaring guitar solo, triumphant piano melody, and chorus of multi-tracked vocals, he turns his focus onto a student that is alienated for not appearing to thrive. Yet once the child returns home, they are able
    to deftly model the consciousness of those around them using metal wires found on the floor. “Sick Boy” (originally written by Raghu Lokanathan) completes this thematic trifecta with Adeney’s additional lyrics about “kids, classrooms, and noticing our mistakes a bit too late.”

    The album embraces a wide range of stylistic forms with the stately strings of “The Red Brain” colliding with the corrosive folk of “Even Then,” where Wax Mannequin sounds like Neutral Milk Hotel with an extra dose of psychedelic fuzz. “Reasons We Came” turns its spotlight on the tumbling drum fills of percussionist Bradford Lambert, as its rhythmically
    chanted lyrics discuss the action and energy needed during times of transition, warning how blind optimism can cloud our vision. “Love Is A Hunter” is Adeney’s dramatic cover of a song by Coax Records founder Rae Spoon, while “Things to Do With Rage” reworks an empowering anthem about channelling frustration into constructive acts of creativity, originally appearing on Wax Mannequin’s debut album 23 years ago.

    “Not The Worst It Gets” drops Adeney’s electronically processed vocals into a sparse pool of echoing pianos and subaquatic beats. While closing the album with a message of hope, it maintains the melancholy realism at the heart of his lyrics. “For me, the end of a depressive cycle is tranquillity,” he says. “Concepts that were incredibly burdensome become
    objects you can set down and contemplate before they pass into dust.” Yet in moments like these when we are bogged down by our own problems, he reminds us how easy it is to ignore the challenges of everyone else around us. “There’s a peaceful numbness at the end of that turmoil,” says Adeney. “Eventually you deny your own pain and the pain of others,
    so there’s a bitter tranquillity in that.”

    - Jesse Locke

    Includes unlimited streaming of The Red Brain via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.     ... more
    ships out within 5 days

      $14 CAD or more 

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Wax Mannequin - The Red Brain - Album Guide

    The Red Brain begins with “The Obelisk,” as Adeney’s deep, inviting voice is trailed by the steady strum of a guitar, jangling riffs, and the warm glow of an organ. Struggling with a Brian Wilson-esque feeling of not being made for the times, he sings about how “we turn a blind eye to looming existential threats in order to maintain chaotic, quasi-functional
    domesticity.” In its choruses, the song travels to a far-distant future where obelisks are constructed to laugh at humanity’s plights, highlighting Wax Mannequin’s fantastical, sci-fi world building.

    ”Wrong About You” is inspired by Adeney’s experiences as a student and elementary school teacher of language, arts, and drama. Barreling ahead with a soaring guitar solo, triumphant piano melody, and chorus of multi-tracked vocals, he turns his focus onto a student that is alienated for not appearing to thrive. Yet once the child returns home, they are able
    to deftly model the consciousness of those around them using metal wires found on the floor. “Sick Boy” (originally written by Raghu Lokanathan) completes this thematic trifecta with Adeney’s additional lyrics about “kids, classrooms, and noticing our mistakes a bit too late.”

    The album embraces a wide range of stylistic forms with the stately strings of “The Red Brain” colliding with the corrosive folk of “Even Then,” where Wax Mannequin sounds like Neutral Milk Hotel with an extra dose of psychedelic fuzz. “Reasons We Came” turns its spotlight on the tumbling drum fills of percussionist Bradford Lambert, as its rhythmically
    chanted lyrics discuss the action and energy needed during times of transition, warning how blind optimism can cloud our vision. “Love Is A Hunter” is Adeney’s dramatic cover of a song by Coax Records founder Rae Spoon, while “Things to Do With Rage” reworks an empowering anthem about channelling frustration into constructive acts of creativity, originally appearing on Wax Mannequin’s debut album 23 years ago.

    “Not The Worst It Gets” drops Adeney’s electronically processed vocals into a sparse pool of echoing pianos and subaquatic beats. While closing the album with a message of hope, it maintains the melancholy realism at the heart of his lyrics. “For me, the end of a depressive cycle is tranquillity,” he says. “Concepts that were incredibly burdensome become
    objects you can set down and contemplate before they pass into dust.” Yet in moments like these when we are bogged down by our own problems, he reminds us how easy it is to ignore the challenges of everyone else around us. “There’s a peaceful numbness at the end of that turmoil,” says Adeney. “Eventually you deny your own pain and the pain of others,
    so there’s a bitter tranquillity in that.”

    - Jesse Locke

    Includes unlimited streaming of The Red Brain via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.     ... more
    ships out within 5 days

      $25 CAD or more 

     

  • Full Digital Discography

    10
    releases

    Get all 10 Wax Mannequin releases available on Bandcamp and save 15%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of The Red Brain, The Obelisk (single version), No One Ever Dies (Free Download), Have A New Name, No Safe Home, Saxon, Orchard & Ire, The Price, and 2 more. , and , .

    Purchasable with gift card

      $56.10 CAD or more (15% OFF)

     

lyrics

NOT THE WORST IT GETS

This is not the worst it gets
Yukon sun rose up a bit
On an icy copper track
It already seems about to set
But at least you got a look
Just hang on that
I'd hang on that


Not the worst it gets
Did not mean to turn my back
This is not the worst it gets
Scrambled up an icy track
Determined to be fine
Never noticed there were other ones
Wouldn't make it back time
They'll be alright
Maybe they’ll be alright


This is not the worst it gets
Fold you palms into a map
Not the worst it gets
Found the key beneath the mat
Same old house strewn with trash
The power's out; the wood is ash
You can pass out on my couch


This is not the worst it gets
Blocked the door secured the latch
Not the worst it gets
You can hear the howls and fingers scratch
When morning comes at last
The quiet's louder than the crash
You can ring it in your mind
Or let it die
Just let it die


This is not the worst it gets
Follow where your money went
Not the worst it gets
Buried deep or gone and spent
On the guilty days in bed
Down the pills and all that cognac
All that borrowed stuff you wrecked
You'll give it back
I'd give it back


This is not the worst it gets
Quietly you've been calling it
Not the worst it gets
Cellar safe room lights a crack
Cause you've done half of the work
And the witching hours are getting short
Maybe you will forget
You're not alright
I wouldn't be
Alright


This is not the worst it gets
An understated jubilance
Not the worst it gets
A long forgiven moral debt
A white moon circles round
An implied or an imagined sound
Echoes every form
Notice this

credits

from The Red Brain, released April 14, 2023
Not The Worst it Gets
Vocals, percussion and Bass synth - Wax Mannequin
Additional vocals, synth - Eiyn Sof
Pedal Steel - Aaron Goldstein
Piano - James Chapple
Hammond Organ - Corwin Fox

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Wax Mannequin image

Wax Mannequin Hamilton, Ontario

Adeney's music veers from scrappy prog oddness and distressed folk to absurdist stadium metal, all with a dark humour that borders on outright Dadaism.
Beneath the unsettling imagery and musical left turns there is a steady questioning of life’s inherent strangeness and his own neuro-divergent experience.
He has appeared on thousands of pub, gallery and festival stages worldwide.
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