Reflections – “The Color Clear” [Album Review]

Things have been rough for Jake Wolfe and those tragedies and hard times come across beautifully in his music. He takes all the shitty cards he’s been dealt and channels them into something great – The Color Clear.

As you listen to The Color Clear you can almost hear the pain in his voice with lyrics like “everything I touch falls apart” and “I’m in love with hating myself/It’s the only real thing I’ve ever felt”. Wolfe has never shied away from talking about his personal struggles and his music and lyrics are no exception to that. By being so open and honest in his music it means that The Color Clear will resonate with anyone who has ever suffered from their emotions, addiction, or the loss of someone important. This album is the down-on-your-knees-screaming-at-the-raining-sky moment we all want to have when everything falls to shit. It’s the “fuck you, fuck everything, you won’t break me” that comes with the second stage of grief.

Musically this is a real journey as well as the drums take on a sort of thoughtful rage throughout the album, almost guiding you through the anger and pain of each song while the guitars takes you on a similar journey but are a little softer on you than the drums, with breaks here and there to let you dwell on the emotion in each song, like the slow, dream like solo closing out “Actias Luna”. The Color Clear finishes with “Transparence” a song whose only lyrics are “It was always my greatest fear/Everyone I love would disappear/Just like the color clear”. The song gives room for the band to show their instrumental prowess with raging drum solos over stagnant guitar notes before the guitar gets to add it’s own unique sound to the song as the album closes out quietly as it drifts away.

The Color Clear truly documents Wolfe’s grief as his songs take you through how he struggled with each stage. This is Wolfe’s tragedies kicked out and dragged through glass and laid out on the table before anyone who cares to listen.

Track Listing:

01. Pseudo
02. Autumnus
03. Sadist
04. Limbo
05. Shadow Self
06. Butterfly Effect
07. Amulet
08. Actias Luna
09. Translucence
10. Transparence

Running Time: 38:14
Release Date: 18 September 2015

Check out the song ‘Shadow Self’ here.