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Wednesday, January 15, 2020

Emily Jane White, Immanent Fire, 2019

Album Review

By Henry Lipput

In the three years since Emily Jane White's last album, They Moved in Shadow All Together, it's clear that she's done a lot of thinking about our planet and the state it's in. With ice caps melting and sea levels rising, there have also been raging wildfires in California and Australia.

With her new album, Immanent Fire, White is addressing those concerns head on. For example, on "Infernal," she sings about the damage being done to Mother Earth: "And she a holy vessel breathes / And you sit and watch her bleed / And you, torched a hole in the sky / And you, watched your earnings fly / And you, sit there as she lies / In blood, right before our eyes."

"Washed Away" begins with a gentle acoustic guitar as White sings, "Modern industrial life / Takes a soul in its fangs / We might as well be / All washed away" and builds with a marvelous string arrangement. But as dire as the opening lyrics are, White still thinks there's some room for hope: "The burden of modern life / The heart it beats and it prays / Forever to walk in the night / And never be washed away."

There are wonderful images in "Dew" that bring to mind the power struggle in a relationship: "I watched the wind make the roses bend" and "I held the wings of a dove / As you held me like hand in glove." The song has a gorgeous solo piano and string arrangement.

Some of the songs on Immanent Fire, produced by White and Anton Patzner, contain pounding drums like those used in a procession ("Infernal" and "Shroud"). In addition to the wonderful string quartet on "Entity," string arrangements on "Drowned" and especially "The Gates At The End" give these songs a cinematic feel.

Immanent Fire is out now on Talitres.

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