The Spiritual Sound

Agriculture is one of my favorite bands out there right now. They are constantly pushing what feels like the boundaries of genre itself. I cannot think of any way I would describe this album apart from their self-chosen label of “Ecstatic Black Metal.” Now, I love Black Metal. I also love a lot of music that touches on what Agriculture is doing, but the band is unique in the unmistakable flair they put in their music: that “Ecstatic” part. This manifests in a remarkably forceful flavor of exuberant optimism: one that is ostensibly buried under mass debris of anguish and trauma, but shines no less brilliantly. It is the very presence of the pain on this record that makes the hope so comfortingly cathartic.

Take “The Weight,” my favorite track from the record. This song can sound fucking brutal on its face. In its moments of force, it is blistering in every sonic sense. I would describe it as a thundering hammer raining down on my skull, but from the inside. The strength of these passages of onslaught is quite appropriate given the subject material:

“‘The Weight’ is part of a series of songs on the album that bears witness to queer life,” explains Levinson. “It was written reflecting on a particular month last year when so much seemed heightened. It seemed like many of my friends were being harassed in public—both verbally and physically—for being trans, for being queer, and/or for being women (it’s not always clear which). This was also a time when I was feeling a lot of love and a lot of community. I wanted this song and the songs around it to honestly reflect both these elements. I wanted to write about transness but didn’t want to rely on political aphorisms and indulgent images of suffering. I wanted to paint a holistic portrait of queer life.” ¹

The seriousness of what Leah is discussing here is reflected in the lyrics:

Casey got beat
While out with Tessa
I heard days later
When we reconvened
And Suz was followed
That same week
And Casey and Tessa
Still can’t sleep
Hammer and screw
Some guy yells “faggot”
He drives off gnawing
Flexing his cheeks

However, it is important to remember the full breadth of the experience she is aiming to imbue within this track: an experience that is as much defined by love and community as it is by greater likelihood of harassment and marginalization. In this holistic context, I believe the song is a smashing success. The song is immensely crushing, yes, but it is not one-note in the slightest. It is as much characterized by tender, intimate moments of subduedness as it is by epic, high-octane vigor. Furthermore, within these moments of vigor, there is also a rich variety of emotions evoked. Sometimes the noise comes across as bitterly venomous, sometimes it comes across as more vividly exuberant. A prime example of this distinction is apparent in my favorite moment on the track, the album, and really in all of the music I had the pleasure to hear this year:

When I listen to this portion of the track, I never fail to feel as if my very soul is being lifted from my mere, corporeal being. To specify the emotional flavor I associate with this feeling, let me emphasize that it is not one of distress, nor despair. Rather, it feels incredibly euphoric, ecstatic even. It is as if I am being freed from all trivial concerns of perception in the eyes of others, and am instead being foisted into the light of communal love and gathering. More than anything, it is heavy.

This idea of heaviness permeates the track throughout. It is present in the simultaneous presentation of weight as both negative and positive, inducing of both stress and catharsis. In this respect, the parallels with trans/queer life are abundantly clear. To be trans is to live life on hard mode, but also to live life on supercharged mode. The experience of being vilified daily, of having the validity of one’s own existence reduced to a political talking point, is quite obviously draining. Conversely, however, the inherent potential for connection among trans people is one that can be immensely uplifting. When people share such an immutable, and impactful, trait, one that is so inextricably tied to one’s own experience of living, both internally and externally, it can provide the conditions for more streamlined paths to community. This is particularly true when that community is under attack actively.

The end result of all this is a track that packs an incredibly impressive level of depth into just under six minutes. There are many moments on this track, and, truly, the entire album, that I would love nothing more than to put underneath a microscope and just expound upon my various interpretations: and to do so particularly with as much flowery language as I can muster in the face of the impossible pursuit of adequately conveying how they make me feel. Needless to say, I unfortunately cannot afford this album the analysis it so dearly deserves, at least not here, not now. Suffice to say, this is a breathtaking album in every sense of the word.

Favorite Song: The Weight