Sinner Get Ready

Lingua Ignota

This is the first full project I've heard from Lingua Ignota and I was pretty excited to tackle this one. I was a little bit familiar with her style; fusing elements of classical, opera, power electronics, and harsh noise while covering topics like abuse and religion. I must say, Sinner Get Ready has thrown me for a bit of a loop in a great way. I was expecting some noise and some insane harsh vocal performances from Kristin Hayter, but instead there's lots of live instrumentation and the closest she gets to some harsh vocals is on Who Bend the Tall Grasses. Even on this track though, it's relatively tamer than I anticipated. This surprise was certainly not at all unwelcome. The vocal performances are often chilling and each song features some unique organic instrumentation that gives each their own personality.

My favourite moments from this record largely center around the piano ballads. Tracks like Pennsylvania Furnace and Perpetual Flame of Centralia are laid relatively bare with just Hayter's piano and voice for the most part. There's something supremely beautiful about these tracks despite the dark and unsettling subject matter. Some wonderful horns and booming percussion come in on the former to accent key parts but I love how quickly they swell up only to get sucked back in to return to the calm of just Hayter's piano. Perpetual Flame of Centralia also features some eerie flourishes that elevate that track as well. The closer The Solitary Brethren of Ephrata is a very somber ballad that features some wonderful double-tracked, harmonized vocals, and some Italian styled mandolin.

The Sacred Linament of Judgment is also another favourite because of its incredible vocal performances and harmonies. Supporting her is a droning wall of sound which I can't really put my finger on. It could be horns, could be an endlessly bowed string instrument, or something entirely different. There's also some percussion chiming away as well as some buzzing metal objects that give the song a bit of a backcountry, rural feel. Things get even more compelling with the addition of an audio clip of televangelist Jimmy Swaggart delivering his 'I Have Sinned' sermon. It is not the only time clips are used. We get a taste of the other side of the Swaggart story at the beginning of Man Is Like a Spring Flower in which Hayter includes a snippet of an interview with the sex worker that accompanied Swaggart. The interviewee in the clip tries to shed some light on Swaggart's cognitive dissonance, implying that the man she knew and the man on TV were not the same. Once the song actually gets underway, Hayter attempts to describe the nature of man using a series similes. It's quite an interesting concept, although perhaps a little repetitive.

There are two songs that left me feeling underwhelmed, and they are Many Hands and Repent Now Confess Now. These two tracks are pretty similar in terms of their vocal approach and it is not quite working for me. The phrases are not very melodic and performed almost like a chant with how many vocal overdubs there are. One unique vocal performance that did impress me was on the aforementioned Who Bend the Tall Grasses. It is by far the most theatrical performance on the album as Hayter delivers this monologue that flows between these pained, wretched, and nearly sobbing deliveries. While I didn't absolutely love the track, I can't deny the vocal prowess showcased here is very impressive.

I ended up really enjoying this record mostly for the strong balladry. The dichotomous nature of those songs presented by the beautiful instrumentation and the eerie references to religion and the occult often gave me goosebumps. I also didn't find myself missing the harsh noise or vocals that I had come to expect from hearing a few cuts from her previous works. It will be interesting to see if Hayter continues to utilize more organic instrumentation or if she will find a way to incorporate more harsh sounds in the future.