November 16, 2020
Under the spell of joy
Death Valley Girls

Years ago, Death Valley Girls singer/guitarist Bonnie Bloomgarden was given a t-shirt with “Under the Spell of Joy” printed across the front, which she wore like a good luck charm. 

“I read it as being about manifesting your biggest dreams and responding thoughtfully and mindfully to everything that comes in your path with joy and compassion first,” Bloomgarden explains in the album one-sheet. “There is a lot to be really angry about in the world but joy is just as powerful if used correctly!”

Manifestation has been on my mind, as well. As the months of quasi-quarantine drag on, and the bad news builds on itself, joy from outside sources begins to feel scarce. Perhaps manifesting joy is the only way to find it. 

In interviews, Death Valley Girls members (which include guitarist Larry Schemel, bassist Nikki Pickle and drummer Rikki Styxx) have referenced a kind of religious conviction that comes with being part of a band and playing music, and described touring as a means of spreading the good news of rock ‘n’ roll. The band has sought to make what Bloomgarden calls “space gospel” --  something akin to the spiritual, participatory music that people experience in public worship settings. Space gospel is meant to be communal, regardless of the context of listening. And indeed, there is a mystical fervency to this record that makes good on that somewhat playful framing, and -- for me, at least -- renews faith in art’s potential power. 

“I think you can listen to music or song to get lost in it, or you can listen to music to find something in yourself or the world that either you never had or just went missing,” says Bloomgarden. “I want people to sing to this record, make it their own, and focus on manifesting their dreams as much as they can!”

I was in a bleak mood the first time I listened to Under the Spell of Joy: lying in bed, scrolling, telling myself that putting on this record counted as “doing work.”  

Following the gloomy horns and choral vocals of “Hypnagogia'' and the dense, organ-driven girl-group jangle of “Hold My Hand,” the title track snuck right up and stopped me short. A choir sings the ecstatic line “under the spell of joy, under the spell of love” over and over, as grungy guitars and crying sax fold together into a Spector-like wall of sound. My ears, then my entire body tingled awake. I put down my phone. 

Under the Spell of Joy continues where the band left off with the catchy, grimey, melodic garage punk of 2018’s Darkness Rains. Bolstering the band’s punk cred, the music video for the single “Disaster (is What We’re After)” was just one long shot of Iggy Pop eating a burger. 

Mr. Pop  has called the band “a gift to the world.” I found Darkness Rains to be standard-issue vintage psych-rock. But Under the Spell of Joy, though musically similar, is steeped in some power that has me thinking Iggy may be right. 

Am I currently under the spell of joy? Or love? Not really! But mantra is a powerful tool of manifestation (all the more so when accompanied by a driving sax) and Under the Spell of Joy suggests that maybe we can fake it till we make it.
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Under the Spell of Joy was released in October through Suicide Squeeze Records. Purchase it here.

November 16, 2020
Undiscovered lands
Come Holy Spirit

Come Holy Spirit has long held court in the Pittsburgh DIY scene, where -- as far as live shows go -- the trio frequently functioned as a genre liaison, creating a musical throughline on kitchen-sink type shows, fitting in just as well with straightforward hardcore bands as with experimental weirdos. 

Mixing Fugazi-ish minimalistic tunefulness with dense psychedelia and Diamanda Galas-y avant-garde drama, the band lives up to its name, which brings to mind images of saints in ecstasy and frenzied tent revivals. 

I last spoke with singer/bassist Gina Favano around the release of 2016’s Grand Island. Back then, she described not really knowing what to do with her sadness and rage and confusion at the state of the world. What she did know is that she couldn’t stay quiet. “For me as an artist and a performer and a musician, that’s important,” she said. “Even if you have a really small audience, you kind of have to let people know where you stand and what you’re thinking, even if you’re not sure what that is yet.”

The world, as we know, has not improved since then, but Come Holy Spirit’s soul-bearing remains a blessing, and Undiscovered Land is the band at it’s very best. As ever, the members -- including drummer Sam Pace and guitarist Aaron Lindberg -- construct rich, dynamic songs that straddle vast sky and muddy earth, expanding and contracting with roiling emotion. 

“Take your broken heart, make it into art,” bassist Gina Favano sings on “Tedious and Brief,” over a spare post-punk riff, her booming voice uncharacteristically restrained. She’s quoting Carrie Fisher -- or quoting someone else who is quoting Carrie Fisher -- but the words point to the catharsis that is central to Come Holy Spirit’s music. Everything gets mixed in: laugher and anger, dancing and mourning. 

Favano’s lyrics are full of fiery rage and grief, abstraction and smart, self-aware humor. On “First World Blues” she grapples with the tension between relative comfort and relative suffering, oscillating between ironic talk-singing and throat-shredding howl. 

It’s a potentially tricky mix of primeval rhythms, complex instrumentation and politically inspired content -- in different hands we might have something akin to a drum circle. But Come Holy Spirit’s collective heart is true (in other words … they’re cool) and Undiscovered Land hits like a firecracker to the gut. 
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Undiscovered Land was mastered by Women in Sound issue 6 interviewee Amy Dragon. Purchase it here.