Jessica93: Who Cares
Originally we were going to have a new writer do this a few months ago, but she crapped out, as most “potential” writers do around here. Seriously, what’s so hard about writing a few paragraphs throughout the week for music you receive for free? Anyway, it was I (editor) who first came across this, and I liked the shit out of it anyway, so why not just do it? We get things done. And so does Jessica93, the genius behind Who Cares. Can’t even remember how this one popped up. It was one of those random, chance occurrences, probably through listening to the work of Crim3s, but it’s lost to time now. However we got there, we never came back, and we never want to. Goth, well, usually when you hear that term, or the unschooled hears it at least, you think black, keyboards, and poorly rhymed poetry about tragic love we got out of our systems in the 1700s. But if you think that, you have no idea where modern Goth is today. In fact, Hell, let’s call it post-Goth now so we can make sure it’s clear this isn’t what came before. Gone are the days of early Switchblade Symphony, Unto Ashes, great stuff, but this is time for the new, which is yet of the old. Good Goth requires a few things; darkness, true emotion, and like any other genre of music, good writing. If that doesn’t give it to you, let’s be direct, Who Cares possesses all of these qualities.
Gawd, you just want to lie on the floor, stare at the ceiling, and cry about all the tragic love throughout the ages. Even imagine your own tragic love that doesn’t even exist. Once the opener, “Away,” begins you’re given a pretty classic, early Goth approach. The drums are mechanical in sound, simple yet pulsing. It’s that classic pulse of the dying heart you expect out of real Goth. The guitars, awesome, pure frailty. They’re so damn frozen and brittle you feel your veins frost over and your tears turn into ice as your lips permanently affix themselves to those of your dead beloved. The emotional quality to this album is spectacular, nearly perfect. What’s amazing is there’s quite a bit of repetition, which can be tragic in another sense to any genre. But Jessica93, in doing so, has an intuitive grasp of what to keep consistent and what to alter. Repetition is absolutely required here, and it does a splendid job of creating vast emotional landscapes on simple structures with layering to keep the variety present.
But, thus far we’ve only commented on the music qua music. Tracks like “Poison” will blow your mind with their intense, though simple patterns. Trust us, check them out in the Bandcamp slim above. But now, critical, how about the vocals? Most Goth relies on actual singing, and earlier it was built on intense echo for further effect, sounding something like rumination within a cathedral. What about in this case? Yes, it’s all here, Jessica93 doesn’t miss an ounce of the required ingredients of “the Goth” that properly cause your adrenaline to sink to nothing as a sickening loss clenches your stomach for something that was never even there. The vocals are delivered with echo, fitting almost more into the background than you’d expect, creating another varied layer under the continuity of the guitars and/or bass and drums. An interesting, and genius approach. All in all, this is exactly what Goth needs to be today or any time. No more computerized button-pushing, please, for the love of God please, it simply ruins the connection of the musician to their creations, and emotional connection is something Goth requires to be properly defined, as it once was. This is in many ways what came before and what will come after. Some tracks are stronger than others, which is its only fault, but Who Cares is the exact opposite, if anything it’s too humble a title.
Written by Stanley Stepanic
Jessica93: Who Cares
Teenage Menopause Records
4.5 / 5
