Bat Ring – A Spectre Prepares
Brianna Battista, frequent Little Cake collaborator and former Skirts co-lead, has released her debut album under new solo-project Bat Ring. With production by Bran Schlia (Steak & Cake Records), A Spectre Prepares introduces a beautifully creative sound into the world of experimental post-rock. In addition to the haunting vocals by Battista, this album utilizes synths and distortion in a truly unique way.
The five tracks are inspired by a series of painful experiences Battista summated in a personal essay regarding the album. After a poor-fit college program, her creativity was stunted by an inability to express herself the way that she wanted. As Battista continued to experience a power imbalance between herself and her classmates, she began to question her reasons for creating. She writes, “My goal was directly tied to everything these men in my acting program thought of me, and said about me, and said TO me, in front of peers or behind office doors. I was in a wrestling match with phantoms and I’d never win.” This project became an outlet for Battista to release the bottled-up negativity surrounding these experiences.
Interestingly, Battista did not go into the studio with pre-written lyrics. In fact, she improvised a large majority loosely based around journal entries. Although not lyrically heavy, each track manages to tug at the listener’s heartstrings.
The album opens with jarring instrumental and acapella-esque vocals in “MT/Empty.” It deliciously sets up the ghostly vibe of the project through the angry repetition of short, hard-hitting phrases. It also masters the concept of bilateral music, utilizing a vocal split between the left and right ears, in a way that gives the listener goosebumps.
As the project continues, Battista’s anger also picks up. While the first two tracks create a siren-like sound, this dissipates with the rest of the album (most notably in “Cadaver circus” and “This i believe”). Track three (“Cadaver”) leaves the listener uncomfortable, perfectly capturing the harsh reality of one’s internal critic. The most interesting aspect of “Cadaver circus” is the backtrack of laughter between the overlapped remarks. “This i believe” begins with clashing chords that wonderfully combine with simplistic lyrics that embody the strive for self-actualization, see below:
I’m ready to speak now, ready to speak now
Then I’ll say this
You thought I was weak
And you thought I was subhuman
Well, you were wrong, you were wrong, you were wrong
You were stupid fucking wrong
It closes out with “Epilogue,” a melancholic sound that resembles the production of both Björk and Fiona Apple. A Spectre Prepares is available for streaming on Bandcamp as of September 20, 2024.
Categorised in: Album Reviews, Buffalo
This post was written by Raigan Martinez