The Waeve – Can I Call You Review

Paired with the intensity and range found on Drowning, it would seem that The Waeve (comprised of Blur’s Graham Coxon and The Pipettes’ Rose Elinor Dougall) hoped for something a tad simpler. With Can I Call You, the immediate feeling is that of a typical love lost track, one that plays down the broader, art-pop qualities of their latest single. But stepping into the atmospheric Can I Call You could not be further from that expectation. The Waeve deceive its audience once more with a quality that takes control and removes that technical simplicity so often associated with the overwrought romantic track.

Can I Call You is far from that, but it depends more on the guitar shred and sudden saxophone appearance in this dark and moody track. It is an instrumental elevation that plays around with its lyrics to form a stronger, instrumental core. Doing so gives way to what appears to be a relatively systematic approach for The Waeve. Dougall opens with lyrical authority, makes way for an instrumental section and then Coxon joins on a chorus-like rendition of vocals for the last half of the track. It works for The Waeve, and it was replicated much better on Drowning. Those final moments of the track turn the entire genre on its head though, typically light and bouncy lyrics that work for pop artists are made to feel threatening and tense.

That is the effect of layering and technical merit, though. The Waeve have proven already that their work is dependent on that shift in motion and the effect it has on the music. Often vibrant, sometimes crashing, whatever the case it is a sound that The Waeve are engaging with thoroughly well. Coxon and Dougall are confident in that ability though, their lyrical presence gives way to an immediate and noticeable drum intake, slowly building to that raw crescendo and powering through to give the track a new pace and range of emotion. The Waeve do that with effortless presence, or at least, that is what it feels like. Much like Drowning to follow it, Can I Call You replicates an ethereal, distant quality in its opening bars and loose tones from Dougall.

After a handful of listens and only a couple of tracks, it is clear to see the tone The Waeve have taken with their lyrical aspirations and their genuine technical innovations. To make a delicate track like this explode into something that feels evidently different to what came before it is overwhelmingly impressive. It may not be as atmospheric or dark as Drowning, but Can I Call You is an excellent track that subverts the usual association of such a breezy, romantic title. There is little on phone calls or winning back former flames on Can I Call You, instead, its focus is on atrophy and death. Chillingly dark stuff that gives The Waeve yet another example of their fine work together, and how their presence on a track is just as important as their work behind it. A clear and refreshingly dark bit of art-pop defiance.