The Seduction Of Kansas

Description

What is at stake in the seduction of Kansas? Like a gavel or hammer, the question rattles across the second LP from Washington, D.C. rock iconoclasts Priests: Entering their eighth year as a band, Priestsdrummer Daniele Daniele, vocalist Katie Alice Greer, and guitarist G.L. Jaguarremain an inspired anomaly in modern music. A band on its own labeljolting the greater music world with early releases by Downtown Boys, Snail Mail, Sneaks, and Gauchethey are living proof that it is still possible to work on ones own terms, to collectively cultivate ones own world. Priests enlisted two primary collaborators in writing, arranging, and recording The Seduction of Kansas. After playing cello, mellotron, and lap steel on Nothing Feels Natural, multi-instrumentalist Janel Leppin (Mellow Diamond, Marissa Nadler) returned to breathe air into Priests demos, serving as primary bassist and a fourth songwriting collaborator on The Seduction of Kansas. The band also found a kindred spirit in producer John Congleton (Angel Olsen, St. Vincent), recording for two weeks at his Elmwood Studio in Dallas. It marked the bands first time opening up their creative work to collaborate with someone outside of their DC-based communitya decidedly less hermetic approach. Priests found a third collaborator in bassist Alexandra Tyson, who has also joined the touring band. The songwriting process found the group once again analyzing the textures and scopes of albums as aggressive as they are introspective, like Massive Attacks Mezzanine, Portisheads Third, and Nine Inch Nails Downward Spiral. The first single, The Seduction of Kansas, is Priests purest pop song to date. It is dark and glitteringthough there is still something fantastically off about it, decadent and uneasy at once. As journalist Thomas Frank explored in 2004s Whats the Matter With Kansas?, the ideological sway of Kansas has often predicted the direction in which the U.S. will movewhether leaning socialist in the 1800s or going staunchly conservative in the 1980s. Illustrating Kansas potent place in our national imaginationas well as a chorus of whoever is trying to persuade the social consciousness of KansasGreer sings brilliantly of a bloodthirsty cherub choir in a cornfield, of a drawn out charismatic parody of what a country through it used to be, beckoning that Im the one who loves you. The song does what Priests do best: They make us think, stir us with complexity. As for seduction, the word has long evoked pleasure, sexbut it can become propaganda, a tactic of manipulation, a ploy in the politics of persuasion. Theres something sinister about the idea of seducing a whole state, says drummer Daniele Daniele. Youre clearly up to something. Why would you do it? The titlelike Priestsis a moving target, probing questions about the realities and mythologies of America in 2019 without giving in to easy answers.