GutterPutter

The mid-2010s will find itself unable to resist the presence of a classically trained musician like Kristin Hayer. Known by her stage name Lingua Ignota (Latin for ‘unknown language’), she never strays from the grim topics of abuse, beliefs, & misogyny in her work. Much of her music relies on her training in the piano & her singing while she would incorporate devastating effects in her production like noises or her death industrial screams. The autobiographical subtext of her lyrics as noted in her last album Caligula (2019) makes for a domineering instance of goosebumps as her tales would reach personal & uncomfortably honest realms. What this leads to is a project that can shock in a restrained manner as she recalls her happenings in confessional details. Sinner Get Ready is the latest release of hers that carries on her signature neoclassical darkwave with the use of Appalachian folk instrumentation with its result coming off as even more unsettling than her previous works.  

The gravitas of Lingua Ignota’s relationship with Roman Catholicism in the album is marked through her hymnal singing & the emphasis placed on the choral harmonies. ‘THE ORDER OF SPIRITUAL VIRGINS’ for instance is marked by multiple uproars of the piano notes within the slow pace of Hayter’s singing. You can pick out the droning note in the background that’s akin to a tinnitus. Her proclamation that she is ‘the ocean’ of whom everyone would wish to devote themselves to plays into a morose presentation of the Christian God; one that’s vulnerable to many blasphemies. Finally, the voice recording motif adds an extra layer of detail around the complexity of the relationship between man & religion as the sample is around a man who remembers a song from his late mother. I find its use throughout the record to be uncompelling compared to much of the songs & for what it attempts to convey to be slightly too on-the-nose given the already ecclesiastical tone of the record. Alas, the sample helps to add some more breadth to the composition of the album even if it may not have worked out as well in retrospect as had intended. 

Never mind the nit-pick about the voice samples, Sinners Get Ready is emblazoned with the endless ties between Hayter & Roman Catholicism. All 9 tracks in the album revolves around religion in one way or the other, yet each one has its little shift in texture that makes for a mystic impact. ‘MANY HANDS,’ on one hand (no puns intended), is characterised by its dissonant playing of the banjo & off-sync fiddle playing that sounds more like scraping than it does be played. On the other hand, ‘MAN IS LIKE A SPRING FLOWER’ is made up of an anaphora of ‘The heart of man is…’ followed up with cryptic, yet hellish descriptions. They challenge the argument that love can rid us of our sins & set us up for redemption. ‘I WHO BEND THE TALL GRASSES’ harkens a misandry-motivated retribution on all the male abusers amidst the unkempt rattling of the bells & the unwavering church organ. ‘PENNSYLVANIA FURNACE’ is the most minimal with a Lieber-like composition of Hayter’s singing & a piano as she embraces her spirituality in her bout of loneliness. The subtle sound effects envelop you into the corruptibility of man much like the obscure legend of which the song is inspired by. 

‘REPENT NOW CONFESS NOW’ sees Lingua Ignota at her most avant-folk as she bellows out the divine punishment on all those who refuse to repent for their sins. The sparse playing of the banjos & the dulcimer makes for an eerie experience as her lyrics, slowly exchanging her venomous spite on the decadence of mankind for zealousness, takes a dark turn. Through repetition, assonances & authoritative command, Hayter conjures some of the most intimidating verses around the power of God’s wrath. Many poets, writers, or priests may claim to understand His language easily, but you’d be shocked at the calm fervency of the agnostic atheist’s own words: 

‘Repent now, repent now 
The surgeon’s precision is nothing 
No wound is as sharp as the will of God 
Repent and He will abundantly pardon 
He will take your legs and your will to live’ 

Lingua Ignota, ‘REPENT NOW CONFESS NOW,’ Verse 1.

Of course, there is more in the album that could be worth discussing. The droning woodwind instrument in ‘THE SACRED LINAMENT OF JUDGEMENT’ is hypnotic in its place within the slow disintegrating performance of the other instruments accompanied by Hayter’s most convicting harmonies to date. ‘PERPETUAL FLAME OF CENTRALIA’ exposes all her insecurities as if she’s on the verge of a limbo between Heaven & Hell with the same Lieber influence as in ‘PENNSYLVANIA FURNACE’. Finally, ‘THE SOLITARY BRETHREN OF EPHRATA’ closes the album at its most funereal – a carefully orchestrated playing of the fiddle & the piano as Hayter’s voice devotes herself to God in its most absolute. Solace is a treasure that’s sought after throughout the album, yet the climate of the world denies such to occur without any conditions & with that, we turn once more to the higher power.