Evangelista – In Animal Tongue

Many of Constellation’s flagship acts – GYBE in particular – peddle an overwrought apocalypticism that has come to feel increasingly tired over the years. Carla Bozulich, however, has always produced music that covers darkly intense themes without succumbing to easy emotiveness. In Animal Tongue, the fourth release for her Evangelista project, has the same compellingly murky atmosphere as its predecessors, generated through a resolute (and justified) faith in the power of sparse, closely-miked instrumentation.

Lyrical content ranges over sexuality, the body, and animality; Bozulich’s remarkably rich, rough vocals, and the songs’ freeform structures, ensure that these themes are explored via disconcertingly oblique approaches. By using strings, organ and percussion in a loose, semi-ritualistic way, and retaining a strikingly open conception of what ‘song’ entails, Evangelista are pursuing a trajectory that continues to throw up surprises – and shows no sign of hitting the thematic dead ends that confront their more illustrious labelmates.