Holy Wars
Mother
Reviewed by: Ziggy Merritt
Formerly of the band Sad Robot, Kat Leon (formerly Kat Pawlak) has been a fixture in the Los Angeles indie circuit for awhile now. But 2015 marked a year of intense change, an annus horribilis that was defined by the death of her parents within a few months of each other. Two years followed before Leon re-emerged as Holy Wars alongside former bandmate Nick Perez. Mother, the debut EP from the newly reformed duo, is awash in various aspects of grief, each expanded on in 3 robust tracks. The prize to be found here is in the lyrics, poetic in their construction, that Leon has branded with a hot iron of honed anguish.
Giving life to those lyrics are Leon’s vocals, which flow somewhere between power pop and post-punk with a bite of Karen O stylistics thrown in for good measure. There’s a certainty to the delivery informed by the dense weight of the lyrical content, the quality of which is typically reserved for more seasoned veterans. “I Can’t Feel a Thing” expresses numbness in a rush of adrenaline while “Warrior” reigns in that outburst, exhibiting the slow burn of grief-fueled rage.
By its own virtues “Orphan” ties that cycle of grief together with Leon bringing that to the forefront in the most literal sense as she sings: “Everyone that you know/They all will go away in time/And you are left alone.” Here she remains direct and committed to confronting the pain of loss, tying in further shades of ambiguity as she continues: “Dip your head in gold/The crowning of an orphan.” This directly conjures up images of agony and desolation while remaining true to her identity as someone who’s been through the crucible of sorrow and back.
Lyrical weight aside, the EPs weakness lies in its production. Between the blaze of feedback and rough-hewn electro punk vibes, there’s not enough to grab onto after the 3 tracks have come and gone. While the EP comes from a place of incomparable pain, that emotional rawness is swallowed by an overabundance of production and vocal filters. This makes it difficult for the listener to tap into the same spectrum of feeling that Leon has experienced in the two short years since she created this outlet to process personal tragedy. With the release of the sister EP, “Father” due later this year, Holy Wars still hasn’t given us everything. Time will tell if they can strip away the awkwardness of the production to match the assuredness of the words.
Rating: Listenable
