Considering that Lafayette’s The Amazing Nuns is in its 21st year, the group still manages to stay underground and undiscovered by the rest of mainstream generica. In years past, the art rockers maintained a higher profile by gigging more regionally, once as far as Mobile. The group has played hometown Festival International twice but never graced the stages of Jazz Fest. In the past decade, The Amazing Nuns hasn’t performed outside Lafayette, making it a Hub City’s secret treasure.
The cover of its seventh album stays true to depicting an image lifted from a Hieronymus Bosch painting; this time, the Renaissance Dutch artist’s most famous work, the surreal Garden of Earthly Delights. While the cover is mysterious and looks like a potential horror movie poster, the inside of the disc’s wallet packaging is even more enigmatic. Only the musicians’ names are listed sans instrumentation and songwriting credits. The truth is that The Amazing Nuns’ chief songwriter and vocalist Justin Robinson did the bulk of the heavy lifting, and thanks to the pandemic quarantine, he completed most of this before the others could become engaged.
Sonically, the proceedings pick up where 2018s Chicken Little Was Right left off and then blast past it with joyfully dark textures, themes of death and despair, and tortured souls challenged by reality. Its haunted house organ solo, “There Goes the Sun” is the ideal opener to set the tone of mystery. “Locust of Control” alternates strangely between synthesizer, organ, and vibraphone, where bubbly, echoing notes vibrate into the subconscious. Though it’s a band predicated on non-guitar instruments like synthesizers, organs, vibraphones, and pianos, “My Mind is a Blank” finds Robinson nailing a splendid spaghetti western/surf solo.
“My Face Is a Mirror” and “Everything” are the album’s trippiest and most experimental tracks. “Everything” is a sinister symphony of electronic sorcery reminiscent of Pink Floyd’s 1967 debut, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. “My Face Is a Mirror” is a spaced-out odyssey with altered vocals and shimmering spaceship effects. Interestingly, of Robinson’s eight songs, six were written in the lolloping 6/8 time signature, which provides more maneuverability for cosmic forces to creep in.
No doubt Robinson’s cryptic prose runs deep with musical and literary influences. While it feels like all of it could be his work, bandmate Rachael Perry’s apocalyptic “See ’Em Slipping” fits the suspenseful ambiance perfectly, and, at least for this song, her writing seems more accessible than Robinson’s. As Will Henderson does on “Slipping,” and a few other tracks, the guest saxophonist adds a touch of abstract jazz to the already swirling aura of suspense. A wonderful mental listening excursion.
