Om Namaha Shivaya – This Chord Is For You
A psalm, in itself, is a sacred song used to praise a deity. It’s a lyrical poem. An art form where the words are as just as important as the composition. It reveres the link between the human condition and divine intervention. A psalm is a holy undertaking. A spiritual pursuit. A way to inquire into the nature of the sublime. In all respects, there is something holy about The Psalms (Noah Swinney, Roxy Caroline, and Ruby Angelica) debut LP, Your Karma Reversed Over My Dogma.
Perverse in its nature, the title suggests the reversal of institutions and beliefs. A means to sexualise doctrine through incarnations of destiny. This is an album that builds into a state of becoming. Every song is inherent to its evolution. Every song produces a story, and if shuffled around, still concludes its theme with an electrifying drone – one that starts out unfamiliar but soon scratches its way into your subconscious. This is what freedom of expression sounds like. It has no defined gender. It’s not shackled to one genre alone. Literature forms the foundation of its enterprise. Eastern methodologies may bounce around as Noah’s fingers construe a possessive melody, but the imagery remains uncanny, self-destructive, and brooded in fiction. His experiences seem to be woven into the sonic tapestry of an opium dream – one he wants to escape but can’t get himself to leave. The sentiment is overbearing.
There are three instrumentals on the album, all of which run for just under a minute and a half. They serve as introductions, or instructions even; a way to prepare us for what is to come. Labelled “Fragments” one through three, they echo the number of the divine. They are cosmic. They paint worlds beyond the roots of our own. Their premise is eastern. They have a meditative quality. The soundscape bounces in its chamber and shrieks with distorted reason, often leading to endings that echo the calls of birds and monkeys as a means to establish an evolutionary link. A reminder of primal instincts. A path into the great cave of our needs versus our appetites.
Your Karma Reversed Over My Dogma is a Lo-Fi pilgrimage. A spiritual quest into the nature of self-deception. A realm where lust replaces love. Noah’s imagery and sound follow the prerogative of a deck of tarot cards. There are upright meanings and reversals, but ultimately it comes down to intuition to formulate the reading. Your Karma Reversed Over My Dogma is a unique achievement. It’s poetic in its execution, lovesick in its thirst, and trails away from what is expected. Above all, it’s a testimony to the relentlessness of becoming undone.
