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Past Life Martyred Saints - EMA
Metascore
82 out of 100

Universal acclaim - based on 24 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 21 out of 24
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 24
  3. Negative: 0 out of 24
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  1. PopMatters
    May 13, 2011
    90
    EMA's work is simultaneously some of the most interesting I've heard in years, and jaggedly alive, the furthest thing from any sort of academic exercise.
  2. musicOMH.com
    May 10, 2011
    90
    Past Life Martyred Saints is an album that leaves a mark.
  3. The Boston Phoenix
    Jun 8, 2011
    88
    Past Life Martyred Saints is more focused and confident than the work of many of Andersen's peers. It's likely we've not even heard her best yet. And even if not, this is pretty sweet as is.
  4. Beats Per Minute (formerly One Thirty BPM)
    May 11, 2011
    85
    From epic opener "The Grey Ship," to the equally epic closing track "Red Star," Past Life Martyred Saints is an album that captivates, provokes, and pleases.
  5. Pitchfork
    May 10, 2011
    85
    Past Life Martyred Saints is a fiercely individual record, made by a musician with a fearless and courageous approach to her art. Crucially, the desire to let such raw emotion out in song never feels forced.
  6. Expert Witness (MSN Music)
    Feb 2, 2012
    83
    Insofar as she pretends her willful pose is the holy truth, she's annoying. What saves that pose is the willful power of a presentation less Courtney Love or Chan Marshall than PJ Harvey.
  7. cokemachineglow
    Aug 8, 2011
    80
    The most intense moments in Past Life Martyred Saints are evocative enough to drag you back through your own most overblown emotional crises, but when the buzz fades, you are plopped back into the halcyon present, strangely empty.
  8. NOW Magazine
    Jul 11, 2011
    80
    It's not always the most comfortable thing to listen to, but like the proverbial car crash, it's hard to tear yourself away.
  9. Village Voice
    May 25, 2011
    80
    She has a huge talent for drama--when to build, when to break, when to whisper or coo or yell, when to camp a while in a looping melody and when to move on--and the album's 37 minutes feel majestic and unhurried.
  10. Mojo
    May 16, 2011
    80
    Anderson never sounds too like any of those people for comfort, she just projects a similarly high level of sinewy individuality. [Jun 2011, p.94]
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  11. All Music Guide
    May 16, 2011
    80
    This powerful debut was a long time in the making, but Past Life Martyred Saints will win Andersen new fans as well as thrill longtime ones.
  12. Uncut
    May 13, 2011
    80
    Raw in texture but ambitious in scope. [May 2011, p.86]
    All this publication's reviews
  13. Slant Magazine
    May 13, 2011
    80
    Though Gowns foreshadowed a lot of what Anderson is about (avant-garde noise-folk, elliptical lyrics), going solo has allowed her to make something genuinely personal and almost frighteningly honest.
  14. Dusted Magazine
    May 10, 2011
    80
    Past Life Martyred Saints sounds as if it's trying to save rock, but without any winks or nods.
  15. New Musical Express (NME)
    May 10, 2011
    80
    A new, added tunefulness makes this a much-welcome Exile In Nihilist-ville.
  16. Drowned In Sound
    May 10, 2011
    80
    Not easy, but often fascinating, wholly rewarding and genuinely cathartic.
  17. Consequence of Sound
    May 10, 2011
    80
    A record that is both magical and heartbreaking, Past Life Martyred Saints looks to be a beautiful start for Anderson, who has a small handful of live shows set up for the summer.
  18. BBC Music
    Nov 30, 2011
    70
    As an album, a glorious rawness and disregard for verse-chorus-verse simplicity runs throughout, but it strains for cohesion.
  19. Under The Radar
    May 16, 2011
    70
    While the ennui is predominantly directed inward-with such lines as "I wish that every time he touched me left a mark" ("Marked") rasped so convincingly it's tough not to feel her emotional wounds--it's impossible to dismiss Past Life Martyred Saints as mere navel-gazing.
  20. No Ripcord
    May 12, 2011
    70
    Despite the often dull music, the album is an overall cohesive success. It all ties together well, and it owes its quality to the unwavering confidence of her delivery, both musically and lyrically.
  21. Clash Music
    May 10, 2011
    70
    This is labour intensive listening, but hard work reaps rewards. A gnomic, genre-busting album.
  22. Q Magazine
    Jun 8, 2011
    60
    With her debut, the former member of art-noise cult Gowns sounds like she would quite literally rip out her heart as a sleeve adornment if it served her creative purpose. [July 2011, p. 111]
    All this publication's reviews
  23. The Telegraph (UK)
    May 10, 2011
    60
    Blending hi-tech and lo-fi, modern synthesised sound and old-fashioned song writing, her work plumbs torrid emotional depths, similar to alt-rock stars such as Lou Barlow.
  24. The Independent (UK)
    May 10, 2011
    60
    Lyrically, there's a pervasive fascination with California outsider culture that soon palls, though the troubled relationship excavated in "Marked" suggests a deeper vein of inspiration may yet be mined.
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User Reviews

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User Score
7.0 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 16 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 5
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 5
  3. Negative: 0 out of 5
  1. hydrawithears
    8
    Whenever I listen to EMA, Anna Calvi comes to my mind. The two singers have a lot in common: they both have released their debut albums this year, each of them touches on dark matters, even the LP covers are somehow similar. Finally, they both rock. EMA’s music, however, is much more raw. Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon seems to be an obvious inspiration like on zappy Milkman. Erika M. Anderson is everything but a copycat – the opening The Grey Ship is the best example, a folk-noise mammoth of a song in which EMA pays homage to her Viking ancestry.… Full Review »
  2. lilbilly
    9
    This is simply an excellent album, with haunting lyrics, and mostly minimal instrumentation. My only problem with it is that is a little short. But if you are a fan of alternative music, I recommend you pick this up as fast as possible.… Full Review »
  3. ZeCatalist
    10
    So far 2011 has been a year full of surprises, musically speaking. Three of my favorite records released up to this point, Yuck's Yuck, Mazes' A Thousand Heys and now Erika "EMA" Anderson's Past Life Martyred Saints, are debuts released by notably young artists. While the Yuck record is maybe my current favorite of the three, EMA's nine song Saints is the by-far most interesting, mixing elements of electro-punk, art-rock, pop and neo-psychedelia in a cold, dark and grimy manner that brings to mind the oft-noisy early work of artists like Sonic Youth, Cat Power, PJ Harvey and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Four years ago EMA, then a member of the now-defunct Gowns, recorded a very good record called Red State that unfortunately passed by mostly unknown, the band breaking up before they could release a second album. Prior to Gowns a very young Anderson was a guitarist for cult favorites Amps For Christ - an artistic experience, we'd bet, that played a big part in EMA's current sound. Listening back to the uber-artsy records of her salad days now, it's almost hard to believe that EMA didn't "go solo" earlier. This because, while those records are all worth checking out, it's Saints that stands above the rest, feeling like an instant underground classic. Clocking in at 37 minutes, Saints displays more diversity than your average art-rock record, offering different versions of the often emotional artist on each song. On "Butterfly Knife," for example, EMA is both nostalgic and angst-y, mixing howls and sugar-sweet vocals over feedback and distortion in a way that would make PJ Harvey shiver. Instant standout "Milkman," a dark and dance-y tune covered in a cloak of noise, displays EMA's pop sensibilities, almost feeling like an underground answer to a weirdo pop-smith like Lady Gaga (forgive me). The eight main tracks from the record, to varying degrees, all feel like mini-epics that could've easily been issued as stand alone 7" singles. "California," the track that has been getting the most attention thus far, is a bit of a mind-bender, offering a big and sprawling sound that was, if you listen closely, clearly played and produced in a minimalist fashion. Here EMA speaks more than she sings, offering a solid structure to an arrangement comprised more of sounds than melody. "Coda," perhaps the record's most unlikely track, is an a cappella mini-song that offers a breather before one of Saints' key tracks, "Marked," kicks in. Reminding instantly of "Our Time," the closing cut from the first Yeah Yeah Yeahs EP (a record winked at by Life's cover design), "Marked" slowly builds over a prog-y arrangement of chugging noise, tin-can percussion and hypnotic organ, never quite exploding. The overall listening experience reminds as much of the implied grandness of bands like The Fall and The Royal Trux as it does more obvious artists like Harvey and the Yeahs. And as easily as I'd could liken the record to classic-era Sonic Youth albums like Dirty and Goo, it just doesn't seem right. Past Life Martyred Saints, thanks to EMA's seemingly endless number of ideas (as well as her diversity and vocal ability), pushes past both its influences and the current crop of noisy girl bands (Dum Dum Girls, Vivian Girls and Best Coast) with ease, standing as a noisy - and wholly original - masterpiece full of heart and style. Check out more of our music- and film-related writing at ZeCatalist.com.… Full Review »
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