EMA - Past Life Martyred Saints

(Souterrain Transmissions, 2011)

The demise of Gowns was a heavy loss. There is good music and then there is important music. Gowns made the latter.*

So, the reemergence of Erika M. Anderson, the female half of the former doom-folk duo, as EMA, feels something akin to a glorious resurrection, at least in part, of the menacingly beautiful, gravely-gothic world that Gowns so perfectly inhabited. At least, when news of Past Life Martyred Saints surfaced, there was that hope.

And, bless the skies, on her debut solo effort, Anderson has indeed reanimated a majority portion of that drug-lapsed corpse she and Ezra Buchla first created.  The mind-blowing fits of core darkness are there, fractured intermittently with powerful shards of heaven-crushing light.  It's a white-knuckle dynamic, for sure and Past Life Martyred Saints white-knuckle experience

I mean, "California" alone is worth the price of admission.  The song is simply exhilarating to hear.

So, the question is, is this important music?  I'm not going to throw down a verdict just yet--time will tell--but it certainly feels pretty important.

 EMA - "California"

*(Note: important music is always good music, but good music is not always important music.)