the tower by Everson Poe

"Everson Poe historically creates music that exists in my mind far after the track has ended, and this song is no exception. Indeed, it serves as a prime example of Mae's strengths. "upright" and the tower as a whole don't exactly present an opportunity for idle listening, and I've found myself returning again and again." -Sleeping Village Reviews

"Because of the sectionality of these two enormous tracks, they don’t become a slog. Rather, we move from moment to moment in sync with Shults and her collaborators, hanging on the raw emotion and treading inside the murky darkness, absorbing agonized cries above and thick, distorted bass beneath until space opens before us again for another vignette. It’s a remarkable accomplishment to keep something this lengthy engaging from start to finish; I’m reminded of Eremit, the German doomsludge band, in that the substantial time passing on this album never seems as long as it is." -Noob Heavy

the ambitious new album from everson poe (mae shults), entitled “the tower,” contains only two songs – each over 25 minutes in length. mae set out to create something on an epic scale, and accomplishes that goal with bells on.

once again employing the production and mixing techniques of euphoriadic studios’ db, sonically speaking, “the tower” fits beautifully in the everson poe catalogue, and also nestles snugly among her last few albums in terms of theme and lyrical content.

taking its name and song titles from the 16th major arcana card in a tarot deck, the tower represents change in the most monumental sense. when upright, it portrays potentially groundbreaking progress; when reversed, it signals the destruction of false foundations. both of these meanings can be positive and negative; a dialectic that, in this case, acts as the outline for the story of a collection of organizations that seek to hold back and even eliminate those who are othered by their gender identity.

written from the point of view of the first trans woman executed by the government simply for being trans (a fiction that hopefully never becomes a reality), mae frames the story as if its protagonist were a religious martyr. utilizing dialogue samples from the floors of the government institutions determined to destroy the rights of trans people (as well as those defending those rights – namely zooey zephyr), a prescient and urgent emotionality permeates the album.

a slew of guests help increase the resonance of these ideas: tb (suspended in light), abe (RRAAO, apparition gauntlet, etc.), and ria (karnstein) all lend their voices, along with db (RRAAO, AISTEACH, dreamhaunt, etc.) who also contributes a bit of keys, and helena (https://helenaford.bandcamp.com/) who creates a droning soundscape on “reversed” using a saxophone and effects.

the end result is nearly an hour of music that moves in waves of both sound and feeling that one can't necessarily anticipate. as with many everson poe releases, this is not an easy listen, but it is rewarding, and it begs to be heard, lest the ghosts of those lost to silence come to haunt you.

Everson Poe is Mae Shults: a trans, queer, multi-instrumentalist from Chicago. Often in collaboration with various vocalists, she balances elements from many diverse genres while maintaining the goal of merging beauty with loudness. She has been releasing music as Everson Poe for over fifteen years.

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