Band: Mizmor & Thou
Album:Myopia
Best song:“Subordinate” is one of the best songs of 2022.
Worst song:I like “Manifold Lens” some, but it’s the weakest on the record.
I probably listen to too many overt Christians’ music. I’m a fairly observant secular American Jew (which is to say: I do more than the average Jew and a lot less than the fundamentalists, who probably don’t even consider me Jewish because I have a dog).
I’ve gone over my adoration for Kristin Hayter in this space twice, as I have multiple times noted my love of Sufjan Stevens. It’s kinda fucked up, mostly because a lot of American Judaism in the 21st century can be reactionary against 21st century American Christianity (which I hate, though not as much as Zionism-centric American Judaism, which seems to be one of the only other alternatives).Mizmor is sort of a version of that, of course, in that the word itself (מזמור) is very much a part of Jewish practice. In fact, that’s what drew me originally to the band; the band has the Hebrew word on a lot of its merch/record covers. But, insomuch as Christianity and Judaism have plenty of longstanding interconnectivity, our stuff gets copped. A.L.N. – the force behind Mizmor himself – explained his faith journey to Kim Kelly at The Creative Independent over the summer:
Christ had become my best friend and the love of my life and shaped the way that I understood literally everything about myself in the world, and to have this realization that none of that’s real, is an immense loss. So, that’s what made me start the project. The first album was actually still a struggling Christian. And it’s where the name comes from–”Mizmor’ means Psalm. So I was writing these prayers. It’s all addressed to God, in the second person; You, you, you.. They’re dark and sad and embittered and confused, but they were still prayers to God. And then just slowly over the course of the next decade, as I continued to process and make music about what I was thinking and feeling and how I was changing, went from Christian to struggling Christian to, I don’t know what I am, to agnostic to atheist.
It’s hard to make a ton of that, of course, but it’s hard to square my love of the foundation of the band and the man behind it is so steeped in Christianity (which has, at its base form in many instances, an inherent supersessionism). But, as I’ve written before, the music is the music and it’s possible to throw your hands up and love it, I guess.
I hope.
***
No matter the faith or not faith of A.L.N. or Thou (whose record store is called “Sisters in Christ,” after all), Myopia is exquisite. It’s a record of slow burns (“Indignance” takes a full minute to even being in earnest, if it ever does) and Thou-esque sledgehammers (the title track hits you like a ton of bricks). It’s deep drums and exacting guitars and, of course, the death growl/screams that have been a hallmark of the bands since their existence.
What makes A.L.N. and Bryan Funck’s vocals operate so well together? Sure, it’s not the perfect juxtaposition that ERR and Funck produced last year, but it is copacetic melding of like minded vocalists, soaring over the soft-stopping doom that cannot be contained within a genre easily. “The Host” reaches for the sky while the lyrics dig deep into the mantle of the planet.
But, mostly, I want to talk about “Subordinate.” The lead line is perfectly Thou, reflecting the May Our Chambers Be Full record, while it paces along like Mizmor’s best records. It’s melodic, with a chorus that cuts like a razor. The breakdown is heavier than hell and the machine-gun drums bring out the song’s urgency. With lyrics pessimistic and full, the record feels like the moment, dipping into a place we cannot escape, but cannot look away.
***
“I’m an insect who dreamt he was a man and loved it. But now the dream is over. And the insect is awake.”
The Bandcamp page for Myopia has solely that clip from The Fly in lieu of some sort of dedication or whatever. It’s somewhat cloaked and I cannot make anything from it, but I’m not gonna lie: It fits. What a couple of bands, what a film, what an album.
