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RCF
RCF is the new bedroom pop project of R. Cole Furlow. A native of Jackson, Mississippi, Furlow is the mastermind behind noise-pop stalwarts Dead Gaze and the former bass player for Dent May. Furlow released three acclaimed albums and several EPs under the Dead Gaze moniker, touring internationally for several years. Pitchfork called Furlow a “real voice of his generation,” Vice heralded the music as a “toe-tapping sway through the feel-goods,” and Allmusic praised the home-produced quality of Dead Gaze’s sophomore album, Easy Travels.
Years of touring and travelling left Furlow at a low point. In 2016 he entered an in-patient rehab for substance abuse. Coming out clean and focused, his new found sobriety gave him a new lease on music creation. Leaving behind the blown-out grunge of his former project, Furlow created Low Variety. Through the use of samples, synths, and acoustic guitars, Furlow found home in the ambient music world. After a small tour and an LP release, Low Variety became an outlet for his creative flow.
In 2020, the pandemic hit making touring impossible.With Low Variety parked on the sideline, pop music came back to Cole in a way that felt familiar. Much like before with the boisterous and catchy hook driven songs of Dead Gaze, Furlow went back to his home studio and made an “isolation” record. FULL FORCE IS WHERE WE ARE came from hours of work in a world of confusion.
“Work was all I could do at the time. I was so full of fear and uncertainty, making the music seemed like the only option I had, not only to oblige safety, but to respect my wife and family by not going stir-crazy.”
Furlow calls this his “Another Green World” harkening back to one of his musical heroes Brian Eno. The EP’s first single “Incandescent Heirlooms” starts with a drum machine beat that seemingly becomes more of a statement of intent rather than an intro welcome. The idea of mixing cultures known and unknown strengthens as Furlow mixes multiple genres landing on his own comfortable planet. Acoustic guitars, multiple electric guitars, and analog synthesizers pulse in rhythmic stabs as the established hook becomes the main melody. “Heirlooms'' is a track about a certain intense nostalgia surrounding the most important people in his life. Both literal and figurative, Furlow finds comfort in the education these people give him daily. And through the past, his present becomes crystal clear.
