Spellling’s not one to give a crap if you think she’s right or not, that’s why the extra “L” is there. The joke of spelling “Spellling” correctly is not lost on me, a highly in-demand superstar book editor. So there’s an understanding between the two of us. We get each other.
That’s probably so far from true it’s ridiculous, but I can say with certainty that Pantheon of Me, a remastered version of Spellling’s debut album and released physically into the world on LP by Ratskin Records, creeps into your ears and mind and life just like that superfluous consonant has nestled itself confidently between its twin siblings. That seems to be Chrystia Cabral’s MO, anyway – moving in on your territory with an ethereal and hazy pace for the strict purpose of haunting you with texture, nestling her work in between your ears and letting it crystallize there till it becomes part of your daily personal experience. It’s like a parasite? Well, a welcome one, anyway.
Beginning at outsider folk and spiraling from there, Cabral utilizes her powerful voice as a foundation for unusual and abstract constructions, laying the groundwork for the realization of her multiple entities of expression. Because within her is a “pantheon” of “herself,” her own Pantheon of Me, as it were (get it?), where each aspect of her personality is equally powerful and evocative. Whether she sings like ice cream melting over a feeding back tube amp or like “Into the West”–heading Rivendell elves over synth blobs, Cabral owns the room, encasing you in her gravity and demanding your attention. Like a siren she beckons, and like a siren she dooms you.
Dooms you into a trance of her own mythmaking, that is, if that’s even “doom,” or whatever. What it is is a gripping encounter with a masterful artist just beginning to explore her range and imagination. Each track on Pantheon of Me is a treat, epic in restraint and control, and brimming with ingenuity. Start with this slab of wax, then get ready for LP 2, Mazy Fly, dropping on Sacred Bones in February!
Pantheon of Me is out December 10, and you can stream or digitally purchase the original here, or you can check out some advance tracks at the Ratskin Bandcamp page below.
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