Exile in the Outer Ring

As we approach the centre, the violent and promiscuous impulses usually reserved for men bubble into view, reclaimed firmly in terms that Trent Reznor only wishes he could convey again. Caught undertow in this wreckage, you might mistake such a layout for entropy; step back, however, and the boarders and subdivisions wrought by EMA’s hand become clear.

Dread surrounds Exile In The Outer Ring like a thick fog. As much as EMA empathizes with “the kids from the void,” her excellent album offers little comfort besides the gentle urging of “Hey, don’t go away” (“Down And Out”).

While this album isn’t what most people would consider rock, it definitely challenges the listener and succeeds at creating a world for the characters that occupy these songs and making the listener feel like they’re there for the experience themselves.

Through the album, EMA never judges or grandstands. She takes snapshots of life outside metropolises, inviting everyone to look closer at those left behind in the outer ring.

Musically, this is Anderson at her most assured: she has synthesised her various musical interests and influences--noise music, metal, grunge, folk and country--into an entirely idiosyncratic musical lexicon.

EMA is talking to us in Exile in the Outer Ring, and we ought to listen.

What’s unique to Exile is the unreal world of the Outer Ring, which is as well developed in the music as it is in the lyrics and videos.

Her ability to turn raw emotion into compelling and riveting music carries Exile in the Outer Ring, and the result is some of the best material we've heard from her yet.

Exile In The Outer Ring explores complex subjects without reducing them to empty soundbites and neat conclusions.

Between concept and clamorous noise, Exile is the sound of an unflinching, old-school, outsider-punk voice rising to modern challenges.

Anderson has all but perfected a very delicate balance. She presents subjects boldly and forcefully, but also with a great deal of sensitivity and thought-provoking tact. The questions she presents here will linger long after its final notes fade out.

The drone-folk sound of Gowns, the band the South Dakota singer/songwriter previously fronted, is still present, and while she retains a fondness for repetition, sometimes to her detriment, there's a faster, more insistent approach across tracks like "Breathalyzer" and "I Wanna Destroy." [Jul - Sep 2017, p.56]

Exile in the Outer is an assured record that manages to straddle its disparate inspirations into a conceptually coherent whole, if not entirely an artistic one.

For some this will feel like resistance; for others, existence. In truth, it is a bit of both.