Nehemiah St-Danger is well-equipped to work with others. Not only has he played music with members of Pocahaunted, Silver Jews, Psychic Reality, The Gris Gris, and more, but he’s also a member of Arrington De Dionyso’s amazing Malaikat Dan Singa, which in my book automatically puts him into the TMT Hall of Fame. Hell, he even had a (very) brief stint at this here rag! But Nehemiah can do it solo too. His debut release, The Slow and Painful Birth of Nehemiah St-Danger, almost didn’t see the light of day (short story: poverty, three hard drive failures, re-recording/restructuring sessions), but after years and years of waiting — since 2005, to be exact — Nehemiah St-Danger is all set, all ready, all geared up to finally unleash this slow-motion birth of an album.
The album, however, doesn’t sound slow-motion at all. This 15-song, 4-track-recorded set is as melodic, restrained, direct, and inviting as it is dissonant, epic, complex, and challenging. From the stuffed-nose vocals and c(h/l)unky guitars to the weirdball structures and choppy keyboards, the album is clearly articulating a particular aesthetic from a particular songwriter. But this album, an “autobiographical meta-operetta about Post-9/11 America, Antediluvian Mysteries and Self-Aggrandizing Myth,” screams spirituality, not individuality, a fuzzy transmission from a strange, fractured dimension of conspiracy-theory, freedom-bible, hypnagogic dadrock. Listen to The Slow and Painful Birth of Nehemiah St-Danger here:
The Slow and Painful Birth of Nehemiah St-Danger is out September 11 on Post-Consumer Records.
• Nehemiah St-Danger: http://saintdanger.tumblr.com
• Post-Consumer Records: http://post-consumer.com
