I don’t know what the hip-hop scene is like out in Scranton, Pennsylvania, but I know one thing for sure, that’s where my paper comes from (Dunder Mifflin in the house). Aright, aright, I’m sure Wicca Phase Springs Eternal has heard that dad joke a few times before and, judging by the tone on their new EP, it’s simply not funny anymore.
The mercurial entity known as Wicca Phase Springs Eternal has been dropping a steady stream of mix-tapes, singles and other recordings since Valentine’s day, 2013 with #Feb13 a rocky set of experimental hip-hop record that blended trap rap beats with emo-styled vocals. Now five years later on Corinthiax, a five-track EP, WPSE continues in that vein, only smoother and more self-assured, but, thankfully, still badly wounded.
The best way to characterize the sound on Corinthiax is square peg for hip-hop. The beats are slow and buttery, and the subtle hooks are off-kilter but it’s a refreshing mix. Their sound is not like any hip-hop I’ve heard. The vocals on the opener title track are haunted and it sets the scene, audience eyes closed, head bobbing. The beat stutters too. On the follow up, “High Strangeness” the beat remains in the hypnotic trap style but the vocals elevate to a more revelatory air telling a bittersweet, heart-rending tale. The blend of tone and lyrics with a drowsy trap beat gives the track a melancholy ear worm quality that will have you singing along hours, even days, later. That track eases into “In Providence” an even more down tempo love rap track, which feature the album’s most yearning vocal and cleanest beats.
As a closer, “What’s The Point Of Anything” leaves a sour taste in the listener’s mouth, the penultimate line “if there’s passion in you/I’m still trying to find it” sticking to slender ribs in the spirit of Morrissey’s best admonishments. Anyone who has walked this blue marble knows that love is a cycle of rising and falling, continuously, even when the commitment remains the same. That reality reflected on a hip-hop record is a rarity, but Corinthiax is that emotionally whole album. I still don’t know what the hip-hop scene is like out in Scranton, but if I’m there, maybe at Poor Richard’s Pub, I’m hoping to run into Wicca Phase Springs Eternal. We share a similar taste for sadness.
