Listening to the newly released four-song EP, from Brooklyn based ensemble Midnight Masses, imparts on the listener a feeling that these songs are for everyone, yet belong to no one. It’s the communal empathy, this short musical journey exudes, that marks these recordings as the grieving, yet uplifting, songs they are. Front man Autry Rene Fulbright seems to be working through the seedy underground of grief to bring hope and comfort to those who will listen. And those who choose to listen are not to be disappointed, for there is much to be uncovered in this relatively short set of recordings.
The EP opens with Walk on Water, a message to those dealing with the pain of loss. The continuing reminder to “carry on” seems more like a command than a request as it’s made clear that what has passed cannot be changed, but we should move forward regardless. The instrumentation is light, the atmosphere open, and the message simple: “The damage is done, his time had come, there’s nothing wrong.”
Preacher’s Son hits us right away with a strange vision of a man caught between the worlds of angelic snipers, and dismembering demons. The tone in Fulbright’s voice is desperate, seemingly searching for help. It’s in this track that we find the album’s title, Rapture Ready, I Gazed at the Body, as well as a heavy realization that the death we are communally dealing with in these songs may have stemmed from suicide, an even deeper pit of despair. Listening to this track is like listening to a song from a Who album on acid, it’s psychedelic yet sturdy.
One of the most heart-wrenching tracks on the EP, I Was a Desperate Man is beautifully sung by guest singer Katie Eastburn. Eastburn’s sultry, sulky, tone lends itself masterfully to the song and is so well placed in the arrangement, you hardly notice that this is a female singer singing in the male perspective. Continuing to push into the open void this whole EP creates, we can hear the openness and honesty in this collaboration between songwriter and singer, musician and composer, performer and audience.
Bringing the journey to a close is a cover of Sonic Youth’s Do You Believe in Rapture, although more a re-imagining than a cover. The song is a perfect fit as it takes the traditional concept of rapture and turns it on its side, making it more an offer for a second chance rather than the end of the world. Biblical allegories such as this are prevalent throughout Rapture Ready, but much like this song, they are always re-imagined.
Rapture Ready, I Gazed at the Body is, above all things, human. The heartbeat of this EP pounds on through the whole experience, sometimes even literally. It pounds on song after song, offering us a chance for grief, offering us a chance for sadness, offering us a chance for hope and closure, and then, just like a heart, it stops.
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