So brutal, so beatific, so brash and blatant. So good. This album is. Syntax falls apart. When one tries to discuss the otherworldly beauty. Maryrose sings a siren song, so beautiful, once you hear it you are lost for good, in a great way. The music is rawer than raw, colder than ice, and sharper than a sword. Words sting or break your heart, sometimes both.
“Down River” opens with some haunting wails before the drums and Maryrose's beautiful voice comes in. Guitar lines float about subtle drum beats. It is like a trip down into the heart of darkness, This is chilling and stunning. “You’re still too screwed up, to be sane” is a devastating lyric. So sad and without hope. “The way back, is long, undignified and indignant.” You got that right. The second track, “Shadow & its Shadow” opens up with guitar screeches before a pounding drum joins in. Maryrose’s vocals soar above the propulsive beats as she sings “Daddy ain't your Daddy.” There are swirls of blistering guitar feedback all over the place while the drumming drives this jam into the ground. It is crushing, yet exquisite. “The Shining Life” is a change from the darkness -- “all we can do is shine.” I can not convey how much I love Maryrose's vocals. The soaring guitar lines and flock of tight drums sound like a train with loose cargo going down the track at a quick clip. It fades out with a burst of noise at the end.
“Restraint of Beasts” sounds like how 3 beers and two benadryl feels. Slow, groggy and warm, “the hallucinatory dark beast.” It sounds like, is that a banjo on the track? It sounds great, no matter. “I love you so much, there is no simplicity,” sings Brian. “Assassins” creeps in with lazy slowly curling smoke rings floating up to the ceiling. “The coffee is cold and left in limbo.” Brian's lyrics are so basic and pure, stripped of everything except the necessity. All the while the New Zealand drone chug rumbles through, like a trolley down the tracks behind wooded suburban homes. “Castaway Bardo” is driving and dark. Maryrose’s vocals go from desperate to soaring. It is pure rock perfection. “Typhoid Mary” is rough and unkempt in a beautifully disheveled way. “The first time I saw you I was lonely, drunk, and horny,” sings Brian. It has a more lo-fi feel, like it is being pulled down from the stratosphere like a distant AM signal at night. “Vanishing Point” feels like a dank motel room at night with trucks rumbling by on the highway as the streetlights shine through paper-thin curtains. The disc ends with “Hypnotized.” Layers of guitar jangle pile up like a desperate snow, and Maryrose’s somber vocals sing of “turning this grave yard into a deep strip mine.” “Even the demons need feeding” -- the guitar jangle now is dense drifts of guitar feedback snow.
This album is dark and resolute, heart breaking and stunning.
(Ba Da Bing) (Dan Cohoon)
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