Past Life Martyred Saints is not so much an album as it is a sound collage with occasional bursts of melody, rhythm and harmony. As artistic statements go, it's a piece of work so histrionic in it's honesty that it becomes epic fiction. Much of this is due to EMA's almost Reznorian taste for lo-fi white noise production. The songs range from industrial stomp rave-ups ("Milkman") to pulpit bullyings ("California") but really, most of the songs here are just the fevered beginnings of incredible imaginings. They start off gently before before unspooling into epochal sonic journeys to the afterlife and back. The opening "Grey Ship" alone is enough to start garnering comparisons to a post modern Dark Side of the Moon.
Coupled with a dash of Karen O's vocal verve, EMA shows a keen instinct for attacking a song while at the same time abandoning traditional song structure in ways that only a young person can. The lyrics convey an artist who's not just in conflict with herself- she's at war. She covers with a frighteningly stark and emotional honesty the goalposts of affection, obsession and all points in between: second chances gone wrong, substance abuse, depression, mutilation and every other source of angst out there.
"You were goth in high school," she sings, as if self immolation ever really goes out of style. Not only is it still fashionable here, it's an act of defiant, conflicted beauty. Especially when tempered by the longing in lyrics like "If this time through, we don't get it right, I'll come back to you in another life."
Past Life Martyred Saints is not the easiest album you'll hear this year (or ever for that matter). There are moments that veer from choral to atonal before haphazardly embracing both elements. There aren't many hooks. And there isn't a lot of leeway for casual listeners. It demands proper attention and respect from listeners in the hopes that they'll take the time to really take in the tragic beauty of the burn that's happening before their ears. In short, it's the sort of record that makes one wish they'd never heard music before just so they could obsessively fall in love with music for the first time... again.
Essential listening:
Grey Ship
California
Milkman
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