ALBUM REVIEW: “Ode To Sentience” by Emily Jane White

June 08. 2012 | By Sarah Braverman

Emily Jane White
Ode to Sentience
[Antenna Farm Records]

Ode to Sentience begins with a soaring cello, complimenting Emily Jane White’s weathered words on “Oh Katherine.” She shares her story with us as if she is a wise yet worn woman; we should learn from the woes she’s experienced. The finger-picked guitar melodies echo White’s folk classification, however, this singer-songwriter doesn’t limit herself to the confines of labels. White is fascinated by Gothic America, and she explores the darkness this encompasses on her third record.

Morbid circumstances involving death occur throughout the record. On “Black Silk,” the devil makes his rounds under a crimson moon. He kills the speaker as she cries out to her mother. White’s wickedly dark songs leave us spooked, but we’re eager to hear more about her developing stories. The devil appears again on “Requiem Waltz.” Coupled with a cracked window, a death wish, and a bad moon rising up over a hill, this waltz would fit nicely in a horror film. We think Edgar Allan Poe would have liked Ms. White.

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