SINNER GET READY

by Lingua Ignota

Released August 6, 2021 via Sargent House

Reviewed August 16, 2021

Top tracks (based on community voting)

I WHO BEND THE TALL GRASSES (61%), PENNSYLVANIA FURNACE (50%), MAN IS LIKE A SPRING FLOWER (48%)

Lingua Ignota’s third release is a masterwork of avant-garde music. Channeling influences of Christian liturgical music, Appalachian folk and neo-classical, Ignota weaves these soundscapes into some of the most complex musical works I’ve ever been graced by. From banjos to tin can percussion and traditional mountain instrumentation, she did her research on the geographical music history and carefully creates a rustic world with old world instruments. With her vocals at the forefront, she commands a dominant presence, with her inflection ranging from terrifying to beautiful, to everything in between. Her proclamations of God, the hardships of being a follower, and her undying belief create a spiritual experience that even non-religious types will be enraptured by to the fullest extent. SINNER GET READY is more than an album, it is an experience that channels the spirits of the past, to create a timeless piece that resonates in the present. – Jared (10/10)

Where Lingua Ignota’s previous effort, Caligula, leaned into elements of noise and power electronics, SINNER GET READY deliberately strips back. Relocating to rural Pennsylvania for the album’s recording, Kristin Hayter uses geographical desolation to transfer her spiritual desolation onto this record. Likewise, Hayter’s use of instrumentation calls upon stylings of Appalachian folk music that once thrived in areas like Pennsylvania. Backed primarily by organs and the plucking of strings—banjo and cello, largely—there is a haunting atmosphere surrounding SINNER GET READY; interspersing jarring percussion with cymbals, bells, and an animal-skin drum, the music is thoroughly unsettling. With these largely drone-like instrumentals behind her, Hayter’s vocals become the centerpiece, delivering impassioned soliloquies that depict God and Christianity in their most ruthless and unforgiving forms. While unlikely for everyday listening, SINNER GET READY is a brilliant work of art that challenges the listeners’ perception of both folk music and religion. – Dominick (8.3/10)

Lingua Ignota puts the power electronics and harsh noise elements on the backburner for her latest release, SINNER GET READY. “Heavy” isn't something that can be achieved through chaotic characteristics—noise, loudness, and the like—though many believe this to be true. It is a feeling portrayed through songwriting and emotion, buried deep within one's honest mind. Laying your festering thoughts out in the open for the world to see resonates in a way that stereotypical efforts fail to. Frightening at times, SINNER GET READY bears resemblance to a calm and collected demon spilling her tamed, earth-moving essence in an almost soothing manner. How powerful and strangely calming this record truly is creates the craziest of dichotomies. It is difficult to pick out another contemporary record that captures the same feeling as succinctly and effective as SINNER GET READY. “MAN IS LIKE A SPRING FLOWER” reigns supreme over 2021. – Peter (8/10)