Warning: This piece contains discourse about gun violence.
Every Friday, we’re here to remind you of the Boston artists we love and think you oughta know.
War Is On Its Way Album Art
It’s already an endeavor to write, record, and release music; but to add a series of analytical essays explaining the influence and ingredients of that music brings another layer of dedication and effort. That’s what R.M. Hendrix has done with his latest release, War Is On Its Way, a seven track EP that dropped back in September. Hendrix dabbles in a sort of experimental pop laced with inspiration from shoegaze, psychedelic blues, the early synth music of the 1970s, and maybe a dab of arthouse film scores to create music that doesn’t really have a peer, at least around Boston.
To correspond with War Is On Its Way, R.M. Hendrix wrote and published a series of essays on Medium. Each essay corresponds with one of the EP’s tracks and allows the artist to expound upon the influences that went into the unique recipes of the songs, whether those influences were sonic or inspired by the current events of the world at large. Reading those essays while listening to the EP gives a unique insight into the creative process behind Hendrix’s music. Since the beginning of September, he’s published about nine essays on Medium, and reading through them, you can see clear examples of an artist questioning his own internal state and how it relates to the world, his upbringing, and more.
Photo by Solomon Hendrix
The first essay, titled “Gun Culture Is Killing It,” is a hell of a way to start the series. In it, Hendrix explains the meaning behind “Bullet Point,’ the EP’s second track, while examining his own relationship with gun ownership. “Guns were just rural life. I never questioned it. They were part recreation, part protection… I didn’t even think about it. Until one day I did… It’s also a day that I began rethinking my own history.” Hendrix goes on to draw logical connections between rising gun violence and the September 11th attacks; the relationship between guns and race; the role of the N.R.A. in American politics; and the death of a coworker in a 2017 Las Vegas shooting. It is a challenging essay to read, but kudos to Hendrix for doing the soul-mining and self-excavating work of challenging his own beliefs, to question the upbringing and culture that he comes from. It’s the sort of mental activity that not enough people seem to be doing
That particular essay deals with the heaviest content right out of the gate, but there are other sociopolitical topics that Hendrix dives into the heart of in his writing. After all, the EP is called War Is On Its Way, so much of its sonic textures feel like transmissions from the middle of a warzone. Much of its content examines the role violence plays in American society, in the hearts and psyches of its people, though Hendrix analyzes this violence without the sort of romanticization or fetishization that has become standard in American culture and media.
In fact, he points out in the essay “Violence Has Its Own Light,” which corresponds with the opening track “Secret Weapon,” much of his commentary is in fact a lamentation that takes its cues from the blues, a subculture that is as American as anything else. He writes about that the song “doesn’t sample anything but it is filled with inspiration and references like […] 120 years of blues in the DNA of American radio hits. It’s taking cues from Portishead, who sampled classic jazz for their first record, Dummy.” That first Portishead album is a sensible shout; the seminal trip-hop trio also made a habit of finding the exquisitely beautiful within a sea of trouble. Hendrix continues, “Like the music, War Is On Its Way is also trying to make sense of our culture — to find the patterns — of the past year or two in America. ‘Secret Weapon’ is acknowledging that so many of us have been marginalized during this time.” To close this essay, R.M. Hendrix dedicates War Is On Its Way to Black Americans of both the past and present: those who fought for justice, who were denied justice, whose struggle continues to be fought to this day, in a year where racial tension in America has reached a such a head that no one can pretend to ignore it any longer. With War Is On The Way, R.M Hendrix is doing the necessary work of examining his own whiteness and role as a white musician influenced by Black culture, work that every white American should be doing.
While the title War Is On Its Way might seem sensational and even buying into the “civil war salivating” of armed white militias that Hendrix decries in “Gun Culture Is Killing It,” it’s important to dig deeper and realize that this album is very much about examining one’s own relationship with fear and paranoia. How do our own thoughts, words, and actions contribute to fueling that fire? Are we doing the necessary work to examine our own relationship with violence? With hate? And – when we’ve done that examination – where can we go from there?
Stream War Is On Its Way via Bandcamp below, or via the streaming platform of your choice. Be sure to read R.M. Hendrix’s corresponding essays on Medium. Also be sure to watch the brand new video for Hendrix’s cover of “Unmade,” originally performed by Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke from the soundtrack to Suspiria (2018), which comes just in time for Halloween.