Erika M Anderson, EMA, was once part of none-too-cheerful, anxiety-heavy noisemongers Gowns with partner Ezra Buchla, before the emotional baggage of that band got too much to bear, and she retreated into the shadows to craft the songs found here on debut solo Past Life Martyred Saints. I'm not going to lie here - it's an incredibly uncomfortable and emotionally challenging listen....but it's also a beautiful set of songs.
With songs such as 'Butterfly Knife' and 'Marked' clearly touching on physical abuse - self inflicted or otherwise - this record was never likely to be singalong fun, and Anderson certainly doesn't mind wearing her heart on her sleeve. She intones lyrics like a young Kim Gordon, or Cat Power maybe, and the musical backdrop is high on intensity. It's waves of guitar noise, organ drone and industrial clangs, which recalls some of the dronier moments of Sonic Youth's oeuvre, or the work of Earth's Dylan Carlson, or even the open stringed scratchiness of early Palace Music. There is a folky element to the record, with epic 'The Grey Ship' founded on Viking legend (the single also features a stunning 16minute rendition of a Robert Johnson song).
Anderson's stream of consciousness attack on her adopted home state, 'California' is an astonishing piece of work, funny and touching, and the emotional resonance can be heard in her gasps for breath between some of the lines of the song. If ever someone truly meant the lyrics in a song, EMA lives and breathes every single moment of Past Life Martyred Saints.
There's many other highlights to be found; 'Milkman' is fun noise-rock, and closer 'Red Star' is anxiety personified in song, but the record as a whole is an awesome achievement. To produce art out of personal pain isn't something that's easy or to be encouraged, but if it works as catharsis, then who's to argue with that.
EMA - The Grey Ship by earfood99
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