Oxbow

Oxbow from San Francisco, CA

OXBOW was born when Eugene S. Robinson enlisted the help of Niko Wenner, guitarist and bandmate from the shape-shifting Bay Area punk band Whipping Boy, for a recording project. Robinson had a diaristic examination of the fallout from “a relationship that involved infidelity, attempted murder, robbery, extortion and sex addiction” that needed instrumentation. Harnessing the force of their hardcore and metal past while employing the arch forms of classical music, the improvisational forays of jazz, and the adventurism of experimental music, classically-trained Wenner created a sonic bedrock for Robinson’s anguished howls and seething croons. Further bolstered by the agile and off-kilter rhythm section of Greg Davis (drums) and Dan Adams (bass), OXBOW spent the next three decades fusing traditional music forms with the less refined and often transgressive approaches of late 20^th century subterranean movements. The balance of these opposing forces has been continually recalibrated over the years, but the band has never leaned so heavily into the harmonious side of their sound as they have on Love’s Holiday.