Album reviews

Dead ensign

Q: What Else Is There To Do?

DEADENSIGN.BANDCAMP.COM

The first five seconds of Dead Ensign’s Q: What Else Is There To Do? give me a powerful sense of foreboding I haven’t felt from a piece of music since Thom Yorke’s Suspiria (Music for the Luca Guadagnino Film).

“Can you feel it?” the vocalist asks. “Running down your spine?”

The album as a whole is not Susperia-like, however. It’s more like a synth-pop incarnation of Evil

mID-cENTUrY FrENcH ANArcHISTS WOULD bE HUGE FANS. “EXEcUTION”—AGAIN WITH HOFmAIEr’S TOUGH-AS-HELL VOcALS—HAS A THrASHY SONIc YOUTH FEEL. bUT WOrDEN AND bANDmATE AVErY mOSS ArE bETTEr POP SONGWrITErS THAN THUrSTON mOOrE.

Dead II. Por ejemplo, “Kill Your Grandma” contains some lyrics that, facetious or not, are both horrifying and hilarious. I can’t tell if it’s “I hope you fuckin’ kill your grandma” or “I hope you fuck and kill your grandma.” Either way, yuk yuk yuck.

Moody, minimalist and well-crafted beats keep such lyrics from drifting into the realm of the absurd—or worse, parody. Instead, any comedic elements retain the hallmark of a satirist. Mid-century French anarchists would be huge fans. If they’d had TikTok, their anthem would be “Jerk on the Company’s Dime.” They would play it over rush hour flash mobs to freak out the squares.

Dead Ensign’s technique, background and artistic goals are mostly a mystery. I wish I could expand, but this dude is possibly the cagiest motherfucker I have ever interviewed. I’m not actually sure if Dead Ensign is a single person. Is it a group? Or an art project?

Answer: “We are many, no further information is required.”

This reminds me of language used by Anonymous—as in the quasi-political loose collective birthed on 4chan’s /b/ board—so let’s assume for now that Ensign is a solo male under the age of 40 and use he/him pronouns. Most of the album’s subject matter supports this theory.

“We got the kids a PS4 (I love Minecraft)” may be my favorite track. It makes the best use of the midi-style bit-punk elements present throughout the album along with the most appreciable lyrics. “Homiesexual (Gotta Love Your Homies)” may be more meaningful, but no sentiment is as universal as “I just want to play my video game.”

Most of the album is personally relevant. The subject matter is familiar. The vocalist almost sounds bored, even through surprise tonal gut punches like “Weekend At My Mom’s House,” when you can’t decide if it’s sweet or sad before you realize it’s both.

Bookended by Benadryl (“…a great sleeping aid,” Dead Ensign says, “sometimes you need to create a break for yourself, but be careful.”) and nightmares, Q: What Else Is There To Do? is available on Bandcamp at your own price. In other words, it is possible to download it for free, but don’t be a dick. Support independent Midwestern artists, especially those experimental creators who ask only that you engage.

Follow Dead Ensign on Bandcamp and keep an eye out for a follow-up project.

—Melanie Hanson

Anthony Worden & the Illiterati

How Could We Lose When We’re So Sincere?

ANTHONYWORDEN.BANDCAMP.COM

In 1968, the Turtles released the album The Turtles Present the Battle Of The Bands, a cartoonish concept album that yielded the hit “Caroline.” Every song on the album was by a different invented group, each with its own style.

Anthony Worden’s October release with the Illiterati, How Could We Lose When We’re So Sincere?, brings that Turtles record to mind,

because each song on it constructs a specific sound recalling an array of particular musical moments from throughout the 20th century.

Album opener “How Long?” starts out in Steely Dan territory, although Elly Hofmaier’s lead vocal is in the vicinity of Chrissy Hynde. “Jean” mashes up early Elvis Costello and the Clash, “Beetle Box” sounds like Pink Floyd with a side of Low. “So Many People” brings a bit of Gilbert O’Sullivan’s sad mopey balladeer.

“My Exploding Plastic Heart is Sweeter Than Reason” combines the Beach Boys with the Monkees’ “Steppin’ Stone” and “Sad Stories” sounds like Jackson Browne singing with the Beach Boys.

“Execution”—again with Hofmaier’s tough-as-hell vocals— has a thrashy Sonic Youth feel. But Worden and bandmate Avery Moss are better pop songwriters than Thurston Moore.

It’s fun to play MadLibs with band names to describe these songs, but it’s unfair. The songs stand on their own, worth repeated listening, full of pop craft, elegantly arranged. The lyrics are full of Easter eggs, pointing directly at the giants whose shoulders Anthony Worden is standing on—so it’s clear he’s consciously playing the game.

The opening track lyric “How long was this going on?” nods to the 1973 Ace song “How Long.” The next line, “Remember when your aim was true?” tips the hat to Elvis Costello. “Jean” has the line “In your pale blue eyes,” hinting at the Who’s “Baba O’Riley,” and “Nothing More” almost quotes

Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”: “Tonic then the perfect fifth …”

Herman Hesse’s last novel, The Glass Bead Game, never explicitly describes that titular game—but its goal is artistic synthesis and finding hidden connections between seemingly unrelated topics. Worden & the Illiterati are at play on How Could We Lose When We’re So Sincere?, but unlike the Turtles before them, they never stoop to mere parody. This is the pop music of the last century shattered, mixed up and assembled into a new mosaic.

—Kent Williams