#37
White Life: “Time Is Wasting”
[from White Life / Ehse] 

In a lot of the press that I’ve read for Jon Ehrens’ White Life, there’s a term that’s been thrown around carelessly that’s left me a bit on edge: “throwback project”. If anything, this seems like a pretty goddamn lazy way for writers to get around actually having to come up with anything original to say about whatever subject they are tackling. In essence, when they do nothing but compare an artist to the past endeavors of others, the words themselves are nothing but a throwback.

Yes, it’s all true. White Life actually does sound like an act that’s spent it’s years in the trenches with a healthy number of synthesizer-friendly bands from the eighties. But this is where the project separates itself from the pack of nostalgia-laden bands toting their laptops and midi controllers around the streets of Brooklyn. White Life succeeds in straddling the line between putting extreme care into the music and allowing it to harness a bit of  silliness and hilarity. In so many ways, this puts them in the same league with the artists that they are so often compared to.

Ehrens approaches “Time Is Wasting” with all of the energy and intensity you would expect from someone writing from deep within the bowels of his soul, but still manages to craft an experience that feels light-hearted. Upon reading about Ehren’s involvement in close to thirty musical projects in Baltimore, the song reads more as a personal statement of purpose than something far more simple. Just turn it up and dance around. You’ll be happy you did.

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