EMA: Past Life Martyred Saints

EMA
Past Life Martyred Saints
Rating: Grrrr

Confessional albums are a hit or miss venture for me. Either they smack of naval-gazing, high school diary ruminations, or they go completely in the other direction and come off as pretentious and obtuse. Every once in awhile someone gets it right, straddling the line between overly precious, and self-consciously arty. Erika M. Anderson, formerly of drone-folk band Gowns, has put out a startlingly frank and brutal set of tracks for her debut Past Life Martyred Saints, that unfold in a messy, stream-of-consciousness fashion, catching you off-guard with a lot of her sentiments. It is fairly difficult, painful record to get through, feeling like you are privy to some one's deepest, darkest feelings. While I respect the record and feel it is a powerful release, there was something about the pacing of the album and the general nature of it, that prevents me from loving it. It doesn't speak to me deeply as an individual, however, for a lot of people, especially younger listeners, I can see this being a seminal release.

"The Grey Ship" starts things off well, her raspy whisper over raw, chunky acoustic guitars, slowly gaining in intensity, recalling early PJ Harvey. The lyrics throughout the album are focused on harsh realities: death, low self-worth, abuse. Heady subjects for someone so young. This song dealing with ghosts of the past haunting the singer into dark, desperate thoughts:

"I hear all them calling
The pearly gates
We've come all gone together
We've all gone to sleep"



"California," the most confessional song on the album, is a bile-strewn hate letter to the state that put her in the mess she's in:

"You're bleeding from the fingertips
You rubbed me raw you rubbed me wrong
And I heave when I think of you"



Probably the most mainstream, accessible track is the Sleigh Bells leaning hip-hop drums and fuzzy guitars/organs of "Milkman." However, the lyrics are quite disturbing:

"He's the milkman
He knows what you do
Gives it to you
But I can see right through

I'm gasping"



The album is not all horror show, the lovely ballad "Breakfast," with its lovely intertwined acoustic and electric guitars, is a perfect palette cleanser for the record.



But the majority of the album descends into dark, uncompromising places that makes it sometimes hard listening. "Butterfly Knife" is particularly hard to hear, with the constant allusions to cutting, suicide, and possibly murder, all set to wailing, feedback drenched guitars.



"Marked" is perhaps the most harrowing track on the record, the narrator seemingly enthralled with physical abuse, of her own making and from others. Singing the refrain:

"I wish that every time he
touched me left a mark"

Over the course of the almost nightmarish scrape of guitars it gets more and more creepy.



While this startling debut doesn't speak to me personally, I do recognize that it is something that others will definitely be rewarded in seeking out. EMA has a strong, individual voice and doesn't really reference anyone specifically, but is part of the greater collective of brilliant singer-songwriters like PJ Harvey, Chrissie Hynde, Kate Bush, Kim Gordon, etc. Just don't expect a stroll through wildflowers and kittens.

Rating Guide

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top releases of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and peaks one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.