Wear Your Wounds
WYW

Do not read this review, don't do it. Mine is not meant to be a warning, but a suggestion to get in tune with who is behind the three words Wear Your Wounds. If you're in good spirits to accept this advice, then know that before venturing through my words, you need to stop for a handful of minutes and go here: Rungs in a Ladder: Jacob Bannon.

A mini-documentary that takes you inside the world and mind of the deus ex machina of the American hardcore scene much more than my words could. Wear Your Wounds is the acronym that encapsulates the most introspective essence of Jacob Bannon. It is the work of a lifetime, literally, given the years spent on the project recording alongside trusted friends and collaborators. In the hermeticism of wearing one's wounds lies the synthesis of the thought of the Boston artist. Not a complex reasoning, quite the opposite:

"It's just a metaphor that came out that means positively wearing your damage and experience in life, coming out on the other side, and to be proud of the person you are in some capacity."

The starting point for the coordinates on which the creature "WYW" moves is thus established. The map on which to orient oneself is composed of all the small fragments that make up the tear in Bannon's reality. A gaze that is not so far removed from when the guise is different, those of Converge. The difference lies merely in the execution, not in the reasoning that supports a scaffold meticulously composed, cut by cut from the prose written with a heart on the sleeve by Jacob. These latter are not the starting point, but the compass that will guide you pulsating along the whole spine of "WYW": a work meant to be liberating, healing and tailored ad hoc on the skin of its own creator. The architectures present here are conversations between Bannon and... Bannon himself. An emotional testimony of what his life is, all told with the elegance of words traceable even in the lacerating screams that usually dominate the scene in Converge. Jacob's inner struggle and his perpetual desire to delve into relationships, losses, meanings in everyday events are here devoted to lo-fi and to soft litanies which, perhaps, strike even more than the exasperation his vocal cords have been subjected to for over two decades. Wear Your Wounds strips Bannon of the irritating layer and leaves him in his most fragile and suffering intimacy.

You have sensed that, although the pillars on which the work is built are simple, the final destination is not one of the easiest to reach. The complexity of the journey is typical of those who need to lose themselves in order to find themselves. The feeling during the listening is precisely that of letting oneself totally abandon in the psychedelic and folk dimension that soaks the compositions of "WYW". The expanded and cadenced rhythms embrace Bannon’s chronic prophetic advancing. Scenarios open where letting oneself be cradled by the depth of feelings and suggestions appears as the best chance to establish a point of contact with the painted atmospheric universe. The chapters of "WYW" are written by melting into obsessive detail searching. Each track has its own peculiarity: whether it may be an alarming use of synths, a swirling crescendo of guitars, or a trembling piano background, "WYW" gains vigor and personality as the listening progresses. Chapters, indeed, of a book that reveal the different souls of Bannon. There isn't just a melancholic darkness, but an emotional range that unfolds from the sweetest shores to settle on the most dreamy banks, riding those waves of restlessness necessary to make the sound experiments come alive.

Bannon, to conclude, in the documentary mentioned at the beginning, recounted:

"I don't want to create more damage in this world. You know? I don't want to. The world is already suicidal. Literally, it’s constantly trying to make people something they’re not.
I don’t want to harm what I love, what I care about or respect. I just want to give back all this in every conceivable way."

Here, Wear Your Wounds is yet another artistic gift that Jacob has conceived. It's only to be enjoyed.