The album opens with “Monsters,” a catchy number in which they promise or threaten, “Gonna make you mine.” And if you might be thinking of resisting, they remind us: “Teeth and talons, horns and fur/We are grotesque and powerful.” Ah, but it all sounds so inviting and fun. And natural, as they tell us, “Can’t help what we hunger for.” No, neither can any of us, I suppose. So let’s all just be ourselves, monsters or not. “Don’t we belong here in this world?” Then in “Mold And The Metals,” after a brief instrumental introduction, Ellia tells us, “Sometimes I think it’s the mold and the metals that make me this way/I’ve tried to detox, but you know there’s nowhere to throw it away/Contaminants accumulate in tissue and bone.” Yes, what makes us the way we are? It’s a question many of us ask, though perhaps not focusing on mold as part of the equation (unless, of course, like me, you’ve had to evacuate your home for an extended period of time while walls are torn apart in order to get a handle on a mold problem). This song addresses the problem of pollution, and how once it enters the food chain, there is little that can be done to eradicate it, and it becomes part of our identities. In the hands of this great duo, pollution is like a creature itself, a monster within us. She sings that the parasite “never leaves me alone.” Interestingly, the line then changes subtly, but meaningfully, to “Never leave me alone.” It is as if now she is speaking to the parasite, afraid she can’t exist without it. And there is a kind of hypnotic element to the rhythm, which adds to that feeling and which builds in intensity just before the end.
“Grimoire” is a cheerful number, a character sketch of a witch, first taking the traditional description, delivering it, and then questioning it, combining it with ordinary details. For example, Ellia Bisker sings, “She rides a broomstick,” and Jeff Morris says, “Or a bicycle.” And the horns celebrate this woman, taking her out of the shadows with their bright sounds. “When she opens the door, what do you see?” Ah, yes, they’ve turned it on us, the listeners. What are own thoughts on this person? Wonderful. And I love the play with language, with the sounds of words, in these lines: “Write your grimoire/Speak your grammar/Make it grimmer/Cast your glamour.” And they wonder, “Is it myth?/Is it music?” The duo takes us from magic spells to a garden with “Hellebore,” which begins sweetly with the line “Take a walk through the garden.” But of course some spell components can be found in a garden, and it soon is clear this isn’t a song about planting marigolds. This isn’t your typical garden: “Hellebore, henbane/Mandrake, moonshade/Hemlock, wormwood/Foxglove, monkshood.” And as they repeat these lines, it begins to sound like a chant, to take on a power of its own, or to summon one. I love the percussion at the end.
“Bat Song” begins gently, and feels like it comes from another time. It features some pretty vocal work. “My love is blind/Tell me, are you/One of my kind?” It is sung from the perspective of a bat, and so it reminds us a bit of the album’s first track, especially when they sing, “Claws and fur/Needle teeth/Little black umbrella/With a heart that beats.” This track creates a lonesome atmosphere, as the bat questions its existence. And yet it is somehow beautiful. Then “Disembodied Head” is catchy and fun, with a punk vibe. This one isn’t from the perspective of a disembodied head; instead, this song makes us all disembodied heads, as they address us directly: “You’re just a brain/Inside a jar/You need some air/You go outside/Ten thousand heads/Are floating by.” Yeah, I have days that feel like that. “You tell yourself that you’ll get by/You have an active inner life.” This is one of my personal favorites. “All that you are/Is in your mind.” Yes. That’s followed by “Six Seeds,” which features a staccato sort of delivery of the lyrics, hitting each syllable as almost a separate entity. Halfway through, it turns romantic, sort of: “I’ve been waiting/My whole life for/Your attention/And your smile/You and I will/Rule this nightmare/Day by day/And side by side.”
“Paris Green” is beautiful as it begins, and I dig the interesting, unusual percussion. This is an enchanting number, featuring some good work on guitar. “Paint a picture in Paris green/When you’ve done what you have to do/Flowers blooming in Prussian blue.” And then the horns come in, adding another delightful layer. This track is another of the disc’s highlight, and it is over all too soon. It is followed by “Manta Rays,” perhaps the most surprising track of the album (and that’s saying something). I laugh aloud every time I listen to it. It is absolutely adorable, presenting a sort of lesson on manta rays. And not only about manta rays, but about the metric system: “They can grow up to seven meters wide/That’s twenty-three feet!” And I love the moment when she asks, “Are they electrical?” and he answers, “No.” Seriously, could this song be any more adorable? I don’t think so. “But one day I would like to ride one/I would like to ride one too.” Who wouldn’t? The album then concludes with “Wrong Way Home.” This one feels like it is from another time with that pretty guitar work at the beginning. “Why don’t we take the wrong way home/No one’s calling on the telephone.”
CD Track List
- Monsters
- Mold And The Metals
- Grimoire
- Hellebore
- Bat Song
- Disembodied Head
- Six Seeds
- Paris Green
- Manta Rays
- Wrong Way Home
Super Natural History is scheduled to be released on March 3, 2023, and will be available on vinyl as well as CD.
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